Guilty Crown: Dethroned (Phase 23)
by LukeLC
Summary: A direct continuation of the anime. Three years after the Fourth Lost Christmas Japan is finally established as an independent nation by the UN. However the celebration is cut short when a blind Ouma Shu has nightmares of his sister Mana, and Yuzuriha Inori, long thought dead, mysteriously appears all over the country. Will fate call upon the members of Funeral Parlor once again?
1. Phase 23-1

GUILTY CROWN: DETHRONED (PHASE 23)

[Disclaimer: Guilty Crown and all associated characters belong to Production I.G.]

[Check out the anime intro for this fanfic: /watch?v=hV5o_QqliWE]

* * *

**Phase 23.1**

_(2042 A.D.)_

"Shu!" A tender voice echoes in the distance.

At the sound of my name I started moving forward, though how or to where I couldn't tell. All around me was darkness. However as I floated through the void a light slowly began to shine upon me. It is colorless, and empty somehow—not vibrant like real light. I find myself saddened a bit at the sight. My dreams are the only place I've seen anything in the past three years since the Fourth Apocalypse incident. Am I forgetting what light looks like? My heart skips a beat, but not because I might be losing some sense about the world's appearance. If my blindness is making me forget anything at all, could it make me forget..._her_? Now that I thought about it, her face _did _look different the last few nights. Less defined. Her eyes didn't sparkle so much as they used to. Tonight she wasn't in my dreams at all, but I knew better than to search. I'd learned from experience that the worst thing I could do was try to keep my dream Inori from leaving me, or search for her out of desperation. My mind would invariably respond by dragging her out of my grasp, and I would have to watch her fall away into the emptiness—just as I once did in reality—bringing back all the pain of that moment.

"Shu!"

I perked up a bit. If she was still calling, perhaps I could see her a bit tonight after all. And this time I would refresh my mind on every detail—make a conscious effort to retain her memory. I'd lost everything else of Inori. I couldn't bear to lose that, too.

The light continued to grow as I hovered deeper and deeper into it. Soon silky blue helixes started to swirl about, and various patterns joined the dance not long after, all circling around. This was where it began, and where it all ended—though in the real world of course, not my dreams. A blurry figure faded into existence some twenty meters away. I smiled and willed myself to move closer, but to my dismay, the blurriness did not decrease with proximity. The figure had the outline of Inori in her famous Egoist attire—how we'd first met—but try as I might I couldn't make out any detail at all.

"Inori!" I called out.

No response.

"Inori, it's me, Shu!"

"Shu."

There was something off about the way she said my name this time.

"Inori?"

"Shu. Look, Shu."

I squinted, as if that would help in a dream.

"Look...at...me...Shu."

The voice took on a sinister tone as she spoke, and started echoing endlessly all around me, almost assaulting my mind with noise. Suddenly I had no choice over where to go or not go, and I was drawn in closer and closer to the figure with a magnetic force. The whiteness all around me then turned to flaming red, and the helixes of the Void Genome turned into chains which bound my hands and feet with minds all their own. The figure before me came into focus, but morphed at the same time into someone else strikingly similar in appearance to Inori, yet so wholly different at heart that I could never get their faces confused.

"Mana," I said the name without thinking.

The girl before me giggled wickedly.

"Come to me, Shu. Come find me! Your big sister loves you, you know. Why won't you ever answer me?"

I said nothing, but started to struggle against the invisible force that drew me closer to Mana with each passing moment.

"Shu, don't fight. I want to be with you always. I want—"

Before she could finish I reached attacking range, so I let out my best kick to try and shove Mana away. She yelped and did float back a short distance, but by no means did it stop her. She simply glared back at me, eyes redder than the engulfing flames, face set to kill. She let out a horrific scream that tightened the chains around me and intensified the fires a good ten times. Crystals slowly formed about Mana's face as she wailed, distorting her expression into something truly horrifying. My body followed suit, growing crystals about my feet first and then working up until I was completely immobilized and could barely see through them all. When at last my vision was obscured and the world was black again Mana's screams echoed one last time and all was quiet.

_"Is this real, now?" _I wondered.

My vision was blank, suggesting that I was awake, but I wasn't satisfied until I tried to move and found that the chains were gone and the only thing surrounding me was a warm blanket. I could feel my soft bed beneath me, and hear the subtle drone of my false right arm as it moved to help prop me up.

"Time," I whispered to the clock I knew was on a stand beside me.

"Seven. Oh. Four," it replied with its robotic voice.

I let out a sigh and ran the fingers on my left hand through my hair. My replacement right hand was perfectly capable of course, and I could even feel things with it just like a real hand. But the one thing I never quite got over was how different the false hand felt to other parts of my body. Recently it reminded me of past differences: namely, of back when my right hand was the proverbial scepter to my king's crown.

I got up and felt my way about the room to get dressed, and then walked out into the main room of the apartment. Warmth embraced me from one side. I figured it must be a sunny day out.

"_Ohayo_, Shu."

It was Haruka. Just as she spoke, the smell of rice and miso reached my nostrils. She must have gotten up early to fix breakfast for me. Haruka often did such things these days. I knew she must be trying to make it up to me for not being there..._before_, but I never questioned her motives to her face. Our relationship could never be completely normal—though not necessarily in a bad way—but it was nice to at least act like family.

"_Ohayo_, Haruka. Breakfast already?"

"Well, today is a special day, after all."

Was it? I'd forgotten, thanks to my nightmares. Haruka must have noticed the drowsy look on my face.

"The inauguration is today, remember! We'll be an independent country again, yes?"

"A-ah!" It all came back to me.

Independent. No more GHQ, no more "quasi-independent nation" nonsense. With GHQ mostly destroyed during the Fourth Apocalypse a new government was in order already, but when enough time had passed to assure the world that the Apocalypse Virus would not be coming back, Japan's eventual self-sufficiency became a sure thing. However, the UN once voted for Japan's annihilation, and so it took a while for the world's leaders to come around and reach consensus on a new governmental establishment. After three years, the day had finally come when we'd receive a new president and things could start settling into the new normal for real.

"I wish..." I didn't finish my sentence right away, hesitant to bring up the subject. "I wish that Inori could see the big procession today."

Haruka paused in her preparations for the morning meal.

"Most of everything that's happened is thanks to her," I added, trying to tone down the emotion of my words by being simply factual.

I listened to the clink of dishes as Haruka set the food out on the table.

"Perhaps she will see it," she offered. I appreciated the sentiment, but it didn't make me feel any better.

"Who knows?" Haruka continued, voice trailing off a bit. "Maybe..._he's _with her too, watching over us."

"_Oto-san,"_ I thought. _Dad_. I had to remember that I wasn't the only one to lose somebody very important to me. In fact, I couldn't think of anyone I knew that _hadn't_ lost a loved one in the events surrounding the incident. Sometimes I felt like I was the only one that hadn't completely moved on, but that wasn't true, either. Everyone that came through came through with some scars. Just, some of us...more than others.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

The streets were packed with people, making it hard for me to navigate. Due to our contributions in the removal of GHQ, the surviving members of Funeral Parlor, my close assistants from _before_, Kuhouin Arisa, Haruka, and a few others were all granted front-row seats in the procession. It was a small gesture, but appropriate, I thought. I didn't want any more attention than necessary, but being disregarded entirely would make me worry that people were trying to forget what happened—much as I did after the first Lost Christmas. Of course, the specific person being inaugurated today might have had something to do with our recognition.

Haruka took my hand so that I wouldn't get lost and then we made faster progress through the throng. Many people recognized me along the way. Amidst the river of voices I occasionally heard an exclamation of 'Ouma Shu!' Not all of them sounded pleased to see me, though. A few of the younger voices seemed to harbor some bitterness, too. I didn't blame them: if they were a survivor from a few years ago, at one point they'd probably been subjected to my leadership—not one of my brightest moments in life. Inori may have taken my Guilty Crown, but there were some things which I would always have to bear for myself.

"Hey, Shu!"

No 'Ouma', just my first name. Must be someone I know. Still too far off to tell who yet.

"Oi! Over here!"

The second voice was definitely Souta.

"_Ohayo_, everyone," I replied as Haruka slowed her pace, which I figured must mean we were at speaking distance to the others. "Let me guess...Souta?"

"Here!"

"Yahiro?"

"Late," a female voice answered.

"Ah, Tsugumi?"

"Aye aye!"

"Then Ayase must be here, too."

"_Ohayo_, Shu-kun, Haruka-san," the voice came from a bit lower than Tsugumi—definitely Ayase. "Arugo and Arisa are around here somewhere, too."

"Tell me," I said, "what does it look like? How many people are there, exactly?"

"'Exactly'," Tsugumi complained. "That could take a while."

"It's been a long time since I've seen this many people gathered together," Souta answered. "In fact I don't remember another time at all. It looks like the whole country's here."

"The whole country..." I repeated thoughtfully. "Even though most of them won't even be able to see him, they still are here to show their support."

Tsugumi laughed victoriously.

"That'll show 'em we don't need some GHQ!"

"Yes," Ayase agreed. "If everyone here is ready to work together, we'll have no trouble standing on our own two feet."

"Besides, it looks like every billboard in the city is live streaming the event," Souta added. "Even if not everyone can see him in person, it's still worth something to be in the crowd watching one of the big screens, right?"

I tried to get a mental picture of the scenario. I'm sure the result fell miserably short of the real thing, but even just thinking about it brought a smile to my face.

"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late!" A voice called from behind.

"Yahiro! We were starting to wonder if you'd ever make it," Souta joked.

A hand touched mine. With a tiny bit of fumbling, I managed to shake hands with Yahiro. Just then the crowd slowly quieted down as the sound of a military band filled the air. The procession had begun. The throng shifted to clear the streets and for everyone to try and get a good view. I let myself get pushed back behind the others—wouldn't make much sense for a blind man to stand in someone's way. But with me behind them everyone got so caught up in watching the procession for themselves that nobody thought to tell me who was doing what or where anything was happening. I could have spoken up, but I decided not to. I had some idea about all the UN officials and local politicians that would precede the new president, and I wanted to let everyone enjoy the moment without distraction. This was what we'd all sacrificed so much and waited so long for, after all. But I had to admit, it was a bit lonely, standing there in silence—alone in the midst of millions. I imagined myself standing beside Inori, pointing out everyone I recognized and explaining their roles to her. In response she smiled gently, hands folded in front of her. Her eyes gleamed in the sunlight. She seemed so happy...just to be alive.

The music stopped, and suddenly I realized that I'd daydreamed through the whole march to the capitol building. It might have been regrettable, but deep down I preferred the daydream to the reality I missed out on to experience it.

"Look, there he is," someone in the throng exclaimed.

_"Shibungi-san must have just stepped onto the platform," _I guessed.

Shibungi for president. Can't say I ever would have expected that back in my early days with Funeral Parlor. But now, knowing his history with Gai and how instrumental he was in the final demise of GHQ, I couldn't imagine anyone better for the job. The man was only just beginning his fourth decade—very young, by political standards—but as an expert strategist and experienced soldier he was more than qualified to work among the ranks of those many years his elders. And besides all that, he was a core member of Funeral Parlor. It was a relief to know that Japan would be governed by someone who was clearly anti-GHQ, and someone I could personally trust, even though Shibungi and I were never close.

"People of Japan," Shibungi's voice echoed from a hundred sources all throughout the city, "it is with both a light and heavy heart that I address you here, today. I think of the many whose dream was for this great country to once again stand independent, and I think of those men, women, and even children—the many who gave up this dream so that we might one day see it realized in their stead. I think of the many successes which brought us here, and the many failures which taught us along the way."

Everyone listened intently as the speech went on for several minutes. Shibungi may have been well-known to a certain inside group, but this would be the first time the majority of average citizens ever saw or heard from him. To gain the dedicated support of the entire nation, he had to earn its trust and respect in this one speech. Without even seeing anyone's reaction, I could tell he was succeeding. There was just an air about the place. Maybe it was in the silence—nobody found anything disagreeable about the speech to discuss amongst themselves. But it's not like Shibungi just said what everyone wanted to hear. Instead he candidly explained some of the challenges ahead and openly spoke of the nation's weaknesses just as he did as its strengths.

"I do not promise you a perfect future, or even an easy one," the speech continued. "However, it is my pledge before you today to do everything within my power to help us build a _better _future: to be but one stepping stone along the path towards the sort of upstanding and forward-thinking society that our children deserve, and that perhaps our children's children may have the luxury of seeing for themselves. It has taken three years in particular for us to reach this day, and indeed many years before. We would do ourselves a disservice to use this hard-earned opportunity for merely our own benefit. There is certainly cause for joy and celebration, but we must not forget that the hardest work is yet to come. Therefore, I ask only that you stand with me as my comrade and my colleague. For it is only as we stand united that we can—"

Suddenly Shibungi's voice lost its penetrating power throughout the city. One by one, it sounded to me as if all of the billboards displaying the event shut down. Before long I could only hear the speech because I was close enough to the stage where it was being delivered. At first Shibungi tried to go on professionally, but when gasps broke out amongst the crowd, he had no choice but to pause.

"Is that—"

"No way!"

"It can't be..."

I heard several of my friends say. I was just about to ask what was going on when a new sound reached my ears. It nearly stopped my heart.

"_Saita nonohana yo_," a familiar soft voice sang, "_aa douka oshiete okure, hito wa naze kizutsukeatte arasou no deshou_..."

Tears welled up in my eyes and I gasped for air, restarting my heart.

"Inori..." I whispered.

It was like the crowd—the whole world—ceased to exist. The song was obviously not a recording. The voice was too imperfect, and unaccompanied by instruments. I'd never heard one of Inori's recordings sound like that before—and I knew all of her recordings by heart. All of them.

"_Rin to saku hana yo, soko kara nani ga mieru hito wa naze yurushiau koto, dekinai no deshou..._"

Mesmerized, I started walking forward towards the loudest source of the sound. I bumped carelessly into a few people along the way, but didn't so much as flinch or apologize. A few steps more and my feet collided with something hard. I stumbled to my knees, but my hands caught onto the object and kept me from falling. Felt like stairs. I straightened up and kept walking, careful to step up this time.

_"Kareteyuku tomo ni, omae wa nani wo omou, kotoba wo motanu sona wa de, nanto ai wo tsutaeru..."_

"Inori..."

The sound was right before me now. I reached out my false right hand and within a couple more steps I found the wall—or maybe one of the big screens. Then I just stood there, listening, heart swelling in my chest to the point that I thought it might burst. Tears streamed down my face.

_"Natsu no hi wa kagette, kaze ga nabiita, futatsu kasa—"_

Inori's gentle voice was cut off by a chorus of skull-piercing feedback, after which Shibungi once again had control. I knew only because he cleared his throat, not because he actually said anything. What I didn't know right away was that he was clearing his throat at...well, _me_. I thought back through what I'd done, and then it hit me: I just wandered right up onto the stage as Japan's new president was giving his inaugural address! If I'd been anyone else I'm sure security would have knocked me down before I could get there, but as it was someone simply took me firmly by the hand and half-pushed, half-guided me back down the stairs and to my companions while Shibungi tried to regain order throughout the murmuring city.

"Wh—what was that? What did you see?" I asked.

"Shu..." was all Haruka had to say.

"Well, it was really fuzzy," Yahiro started slowly, "but I think we all saw the same thing on those screens."

I waited impatiently for further explanation.

"A crystal tower..." Ayase added.

"Yeah, go on!" I prompted.

"A crystal tower...with Inori inside."


	2. Phase 23-2

**Phase 23.2**

That evening I sat in my usual place at the park, overlooking the lake. Well, minus the 'looking' part. But I could hear the water, feel its gentle breeze, and that contrasted by the warmth of the setting sun on my face. I often came here, especially when I needed to think. Sometimes I'd listen to Inori's music, other times I'd just sit in silence for a while. Tonight would be one of those other times. I didn't want to listen to one of the songs I'd heard so many times now that a new memory was in mind from the inauguration. I was afraid that I'd forget the subtle differences I detected in Inori's voice earlier today and start to believe it was just another recording. But if it wasn't one...then what was it? If Inori really _was _alive, then where was she and how could I find her? I felt hopeful, but completely helpless as well. So all I could do was sit there and think about it.

"Thought I'd find you here," a voice said from behind me.

Wheels softly rolled through the grass up beside my bench.

"Ayase. _Konbawa,_" I smiled, turning to face her as well as I could.

"_Konbawa._ How are you holding up? You made quite the scene earlier today."

My cheeks became a little hot.

"A-ah, yes, I suppose I did."

Even though I couldn't see Ayase I had to turn away for a moment.

"I already apologized to Shibungi-san," I added. "I—I don't know what got into me."

Ayase grabbed my arm.

"You're a really bad liar, Ouma Shu."

"W-what do you mean?" I faked a laugh.

"That's what you're supposed to tell me. So fess up: what's been going on? There's more to this thing with Inori showing up all over the city, isn't there?"

I sighed, not unsure of what to do, but unsure of if I wanted to do it or not. I could keep the others in the dark well enough, but Ayase was a different story. We understood each other too well, what with her losing Gai and me losing Inori, and now with her being wheelchair-bound and me being blind. We were two sides of the same coin, and maybe not even that far different. She was the first to detect my attraction to Inori, even as I was the first to detect hers to Gai. Now that something far stranger was going on, I should have known it'd never get past her. Honestly I was surprised it took three years for her to say something.

"I've...seen her in my dreams," my heart beat faster from talking about something so personal. "Er, both of them. Inori, I mean, and Mana too. E-especially Mana."

"Is that all? Well, I'm not surprised, considering what you've been through."

"Maybe...maybe 'dream' is the wrong word."

"Eh?"

"Have you ever wondered how I survived that day, Ayase? Why it was me that made it out and not Inori?"

"Umm...Mana killed Inori, didn't she? And you destroyed Mana and the Apocalypse Virus by absorbing it all in your Void, right? Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so casual about it."

"It's fine. But you're wrong."

"What?"

"That's what everyone thinks happened, but really...Mana didn't kill Inori. I can't explain _exactly_, but that one thing I know for sure. I'll never forget." My mind filled with vivid images of the night of the Fourth Apocalypse as I recalled the events and struggled to put them into words for Ayase. "While you and the others were holding back the GHQ forces, I ran after Gai and Inori to stop Mana's rebirth. But I was too late—Mana had already taken over Inori's body by the time I arrived. But...she couldn't overcome Inori herself. Somehow she transferred her energy into a crystal flower, and when I drew upon it with my Void, it took on everything she'd poured into it—Inori's very soul, I think. While I fought Gai with Inori's Void, she sang her song to counteract the Genomic Resonance coming from Mana. She gave everything she had. For a brief moment as I struck the final blow, she even appeared beside me, clinging to me as we plunged downward through Gai—and Mana's Void."

"Both of them in one stroke..."

"Yes. In the final battle, it was Inori that came out stronger. Mana didn't defeat her, she defeated Mana!" I pounded the park bench with my fist as tears formed in my eyes.

Ayase grabbed both my shoulders and forced me to face her up close.

"You mean that all this time you knew Inori-chan was alive and you didn't tell anyone!?"

"No, no! There's more."

She let go indignantly.

"After defeating Mana and Gai, I suddenly found myself in a sort of alternate universe. Everything there was like a carbon copy of this world—only covered in Apocalypse Virus crystals. Gai was there, too. He told me a lot of things before...before finally turning into crystal himself, but it wasn't until today that I understood his words. He said...he said that he played the role of 'demon king' just so that I might end up there, in that world beyond the Apocalypse. Just like Gai—he predicted exactly what would happen, all the way back then. He knew that if I came there, I could rescue Inori even if Mana was resurrected."

"Did you?" Ayase asked hesitantly.

"It seems strange to say, but honestly I don't know. But after speaking with Gai and being returned to our world, I found Inori wandering around the tower, looking for me. She was mostly covered with crystals herself...and she was blinded from Mana wrecking her body."

_"Shu...Shu...don't blame yourself," _Inori's words echoed painfully in my mind. I shut them out for the time being and continued explaining.

"I didn't know everything that was going on, but I knew that if I took on all the Apocalypse Virus with my Void, it would kill me but save everyone else. And if Inori died, well, it would be the merciful thing and there'd be no chance of Mana coming back, either. Everything was in place. I just expected us to die together. I was ready. But then, just when I thought it was over, Inori...well, she..."

_"Take this..."_

"She..._traded fates_ with me. Inori took on everything—the virus, the voids—so that I could go on living. That's the real reason I'm blind. I have _Inori's_ blindness, not a battle wound."

"Shu..." was all Ayase could say.

"Do you understand why I never told anyone, now?"

She put a hand on mine.

"But there is one thing I don't understand. How is all that connected with your dreams and Inori showing up on all the screens?"

"I don't know for sure. But if I inherited Inori's blindness, then maybe I also inherited some connection to Mana. Only, she can't take me over like she could Inori, so the worst she can do is give me bad dreams. What that might have to do with Inori today I can't say. I just have a feeling it's not a coincidence. The dreams have been a lot more frequent lately."

For a moment neither of us said anything. Then:

"Did...did Gai say anything else to you?"

"Several things. Something about Da'ath calling the world beyond the Apocalypse 'Shangri-la', about his fear of being 'selected out', about finally fulfilling his role in life...but...that's not what you meant, is it?"

I sensed Ayase wanted to hear that Gai mentioned her in his last moments, but he didn't, and I had no idea how to tell her gently. That in itself got the message across, though.

"Well if he was happy when he died, then I suppose that's all that matters," she said.

Much to my surprise, Ayase leaned her head on my shoulder, and for a while we just watched the lake, me imagining what Ayase might be seeing.

"Shu? Thanks...for telling me. And don't worry, I won't go around spreading it to everyone else."

"Thanks. I just don't want everyone to worry about me. This is my burden to bear—not the others'. That's how it's always been. And somehow...I'm happy this way."

"But that's where_ you're_ wrong, Shu. We're friends. That means your burden is mine, too. Don't think we don't notice how often you come out here, trying to shoulder it all on your own. There may not be any more Funeral Parlor, but we're all still here for you. Use us!"

She didn't know it, but her last two words momentarily transported me back to the very point in time we'd spoken of.

_ "Everyone: use me!" _The words replayed in my head.

_ "Inori..."_

* * *

GC

* * *

_Location: Unknown_

"Has he awoken yet?"

"Not yet. But he will. Soon. The power of Cocytus cannot sleep for long."

"I hope for your sake you are correct. Your failure to safeguard Eve and secure a new Adam has left a colossal stain on your record."

"Trust me: the world has not seen its last Apocalypse."

"And yet for the last three years we've made no progress."

"We've faced some setbacks, yes. Birth is a painful process. It is natural to encounter resistance. But resistance refines. For every problem we've encountered, we've come back a dozen times stronger. And what of those who resisted us, hm? Where are they now? Gone, no? Yet we still remain. Only those who succumb to change survive. These heroes shine bright and then burn out, doused by their own foolish ideals."

"Then what of Ouma? What do you intend to do with him?"

"Hmph. Stoke the flames."

* * *

GC

* * *

_"__Video. A video. What about the video? I think I need to finish it...or...something. Yes, that's right. School project. Others asked if it was done. Going to work on it over lunch."_

My head was strangely foggy as I walked down the path towards the old, abandoned warehouse outside Tennouzu High. It was a favorite hangout place of mine, as well as the chosen room for the school's modern film research club. It disturbed me that I could hardly remember anything about the video I was working on there, though.

_"Ah, well. I'll remember when I see it, I suppose."_

I slowed my pace upon reaching the warehouse door. A voice came from inside. Someone was singing. It didn't sound like any of the club members, though. I peeked inside to get a better look and immediately recognized the voice's owner, although I could hardly believe my eyes. It was Yuzuriha Inori, voice of the famous underground internet artist "Egoist". I took a step towards her and accidentally kicked a piece of trash on the ground. The sound alerted her to my presence and she stopped singing, turning instead to face her intruder. Some kind of four-legged defense robot dashed out from beside Inori and zipped towards me before I even had the chance to apologize. One of the robot's arms shot forward and formed a long spike of ice which ran right through me like I was made of butter. Blood gushed from the wound and spilled onto the ground.

"Inori!"

I ran towards the girl for reasons I myself did not understand. Furthermore, for some reason my movements were sluggish and I clumsily tripped along the way, falling right on top of her and driving us both to the ground. There was a big splash, and when I stood up again Inori was gone, leaving only a big purple puddle in her place. Stains of the strange substance covered my body. I cried out in pain and terror and fell to my knees. But the insanity didn't stop there: next one of the club computers turned itself on right before my face and started playing a video much unlike whatever it was I came to edit. Inori was on the screen now, but the picture was fuzzy. Much of the image was indecipherable, but it looked like she was surrounded by Apocalypse Virus crystals. The view zoomed out a bit, and I could see that the crystals made up an entire structure—a tower, possibly. Someone tapped my shoulder.

"Shu?"

I turned around, and nearly jumped out of my skin. Suddenly my sister Mana was there, brow furrowed, her eyes glowing a frightening red.

"Are you still rejecting me? I won't forgive you, you know."

I screamed again...and sat up in my bed. The world faded away to blackness. It was all just another dream. My heart was pounding.

"Time."

"Three. Forty. Seven," my clock replied.

"Ugh."

I decided to get up and walk around the room a bit to clear my head. Everything was so very quiet and still. Perhaps soaking in that kind of tranquility for a while would develop the same mood in my mind. It didn't seem to work. The silence attuned my ears to amplify even the slightest creak in the floor or hum of a machine into something frightening. I decided to open the window and lean out for a bit instead.

_"If only I could watch the stars..."_

I took a deep breath of the chilly night air and let it out slowly. It felt good, like breathing for the first time. Still, I missed the stars. There was always something calming about them before. They made the universe seem so very big, and my problems so very small by comparison. The light made me feel safe and secure. But these days the world afforded me no such comforts. I had to see the stars by believing that they were there, since my eyes wouldn't do the job for me.

_"__Believing is seeing..."_

"Where are you, Inori?"

* * *

_**Author's notes:** Hello everyone, and thanks for reading thus far! This is by far not my first time writing a story, but it's my first fanfic, so I hope you will join me on this little adventure! And I suppose I should make a habit of saying a little something after each chapter, since there's been some questions asked. Of course the biggest one is: "Are you going to finish this thing?" to which I will happily respond: "Yes, I fully intend to!" So with that out of the way, let's talk story. This particular chapter was a bit shorter and less interesting than the first, for which I apologize, but it was necessary for two reasons: 1) to make sure everyone is caught up on the understanding of Guilty Crown's ending (at least the interpretation this fanfic is taking) and 2) to give me time to plan ahead a bit more so that I can tie everything up faithfully with the story presented in the anime. It runs pretty deep and there's multiple takes on each aspect that didn't get directly explained in the anime, so believe it or not I actually had to do some studying for this. Now that I've got things all sorted out in my own mind, I can really start moving forward. Chapter 3 (Phase 23.3 in Guilty Crown lingo) will be much more interesting, I promise. So stay tuned!_


	3. Phase 23-3

**Phase 23.3**

_Shinomiya Ayase_

Things didn't quiet down much for us over the next several days, though nobody saw or heard any more of Inori. Japan slowly got settled in with its new leadership, but for his part Shibungi seemed pretty comfortable managing the struggling nation's many needs. Not that I got to speak with him much—only once, in fact. An inauguration party was set to take place exactly one week after the new president arrived in office, and to kick it off there'd be a huge Endlave march all the way from Yokohama to the capital city. Shibungi summoned me briefly to ask if I would participate, and of course I accepted. By obligation the highest ranking official of Japan's Endlave forces would lead the march, so all I had to do was walk in rhythm—and I could walk an Endlave in my sleep.

Well, the day of the event arrived quickly, and before I knew it I found myself at a military hangar by the large Yokohama port. All of the Endlave pilots would ride in wireless pods that would be shuttled to the capital at the rear of the march. That way once it was over we could simply disconnect, change out of our uniforms, and go inside for the main event. But this was a military operation after all, so before we could do that all the pilots had to line up for a word of briefing by the forces' commander. I wheeled my chair into formation beside a young man with somewhat long, blonde hair and a scruffy face that made him look younger for his failure to grow a beard rather than older for trying at all. There was something oddly familiar about him, but we didn't get a chance to speak. However, the feeling might've been mutual. I caught him glancing at me more than once while the commander yelled about our duty to show off the pride of our nation.

_"Unit 823..." _I took note of the number on the young man's badge.

When at last the commander's rant was done, everyone was dismissed to enter their pods. Mine had a ramp leading up to it so that I could lug myself in without assistance. Once inside I strapped myself in, slid on the helmet waiting for me there, and pressed the button that would signal to the pod operator that I was ready to engage. The response was delayed by several seconds, which gave me a bit of satisfaction. I was faster at getting ready than some of the military pilots, and all their legs worked just fine. The hood closed down over my pod soon, and a scanner protruded from the side of my helmet, covering my right eye. Then there was the familiar sensation of dropping out of my body and landing in the Endlave, which I activated and stood up with prejudice. From its eyes I could see that there would be two rows of Endlaves in the march, with the exception of the commander in front. My Endlave was in the right column, one place back. If the formation was any indication of rank, then Shibungi did me a great honor putting me so close to the front without any official military record. Even more interesting was that Unit 823 was beside me on the left and one place farther back.

_"Why does that number seem so familiar?"_

The commander shouted his orders one by one to get everyone into form, then turned his Endlave around and formally began the march. When we stepped outside of the hangar it was already dark out, but winding down for the day was the last thing on everyone's mind. Crowds lined the streets for the party much as they did for the actual inauguration. Their attitude, however, couldn't have been much more different. As I marched along in my Endlave nowhere did I see last week's quiet, respectful anticipation. People everywhere cheered, jumped, and pointed as the Endlave parade signaled the start of the big celebration. Many of the children held sparklers in their hands. Music played all over the city. Buildings were decorated with colorful lights. I was glad I got to see it all from an Endlave. No matter how much I looked around in awe and excitement, my shell maintained a serious, professional expression. I rarely got to enjoy being a pilot like that, to be appreciated for one of my unique abilities. But then again, the farther along the march I went, the more I got the feeling it wasn't us Endlave pilots that were being cheered on. After all, what's a faceless two-legged machine to someone who will never see the person behind it? No, it was something far more personal than that. Our presence electrified the atmosphere, but nobody showed up to watch for novelty's sake alone. Even Shibungi wasn't really the source of excitement for the evening's events. Tonight was about our identity as an independent people, about our victory over GHQ and the Apocalypse Virus. It was about family and friends—all the relationships we fought for. It was even about each individual man and woman receiving the deepest wishes of their souls. Once I realized that, suddenly I no longer watched anyone celebrate. Instead, I celebrated with them by marching all the stronger.

_ "Look, Gai. Everyone's cheering. They're cheering for the future you fought for. Well, it's the present, now. You did it. I hope you realize that. You didn't die for nothing. Most of these people don't even know your name—don't know they have you to thank—but I will always remember you...Gai."_

The commander's Endlave pulled an about-face when we reached our destination, the courtyard of the president's new mansion, and then he raised his right cannon.

"Present arms!" He shouted.

The rest of us obeyed in perfect unison, mimicking the commander's gesture.

"Endlaves: salute!"

One by one each of the pilots shot off their fireworks into the sky, this time intentionally out of sync. The crowds roared with renewed intensity as the lights painted the city with a dazzling array of color. The bursts continued for a full minute, after which the Endlave parade marched out of sight behind the mansion and the pilots were disconnected. By the time the visor lifted off of my pod, Tsugumi, Shu, Souta, Yahiro, and even Kusama Kanon—another Tennouzu High graduate—were all waiting for me with my wheelchair.

"That was amazing, Aya-nee!" Tsugumi greeted enthusiastically.

"It was fun, actually," I replied while climbing out into the chair. "I do need to go get changed, though. I'll join you all in a minute."

"Actually I'm on punch duty," Tsugumi said. "The rest of you can go on ahead, though."

"Would you like some help, Tsugumi?" I asked.

"Well, I've got Fyu-neru already, but with this many people here it looks like I'm gonna need all the help I can get!"

"Alright, then I'll meet you by the tables as soon as I'm ready."

"See you girls later, then," Yahiro raised his hand in a frozen wave. "I'm going to go mingle a bit."

Our little group split up in its different directions and headed into the elaborate mansion. I couldn't help but think of what a far cry it was from the humble underground residence of Funeral Parlor. We'd come a very long way since then. So often it was easy to focus on our losses and on the painful side of change, but truly there was cause for celebration, too. I wanted to embrace that side of things for the night and just enjoy myself. I changed into a maroon dress as quickly as I could and then went out to the grand hall where the party proper took place. The hall was mostly finished with fine wood, and a velvet red carpet lined the middle, leading from the entrance all the way to the end of the room which went up a few stairs to a railed platform where Shibungi stood by a round table of refreshments exclusively for those in conversation with him (who were predominantly rather important people in some way or another). A few long, straight tables lined the walls of the main area, which is where I found Tsugumi and Fyu-neru serving punch to party guests. Of course only a very few were allowed inside compared to the masses gathered in the streets, but there were still enough people around to make navigating difficult, especially with a wheelchair.

"Still need my help?" I teased, seeing how busy the place was.

"Don't even think about backing out on me now! Fyu-neru's doing well handing out glasses, but I can only do so much filling and refilling on my own."

The little robot stood on the table, dutifully carrying out his role without a care in the world. He seemed to be pretty popular among the guests, too. I wheeled around opposite Fyu-neru to Tsugumi and joined in the punch serving. For a while my actions became automatic as dozens of people came for a drink and went, leaving my mind to contemplate the classical music floating lightly through the air from the orchestra playing in one corner of the grand hall. My daze was broken, however, when the blonde Endlave pilot walked by. Unlike everyone else, he didn't stop. In fact he was so focused he didn't even see us at the table.

"_O-kyaku-san_!" Tsugumi called out to him. "Care for punch?"

"E-eh?"

There was an awkward moment where Tsugumi just waited with a pleasant smile on her face while the blonde man hesitated with an unreadably awkward expression on his. His cheeks turned a bit red and his mouth hung slightly open.

"You—erm—punch? I—uh—little runt—trying—um—I don't know," he fumbled over his words.

Fyu-neru took that as a yes and practically shoved a glass into the young man's hand.

"Well, uh, if you insist—erm—_thanks_. I guess."

"Say, nice job during the march," I said, trying to coax out a possible connection between us while he was there. "Your Endlave's posture was a bit loose, though. You might want to keep the calibration tighter until you get used to handling it on your own. Saves a lot of maintenance down the road, yes?"

The young man's eye twitched.

"Wha—now just—"

Suddenly something seemed to be seriously bothering him. His face turned bright red and he fidgeted with his pockets until his fists were white.

"Say, are you feeling alright?" Tsugumi asked.

"Well—er—fine. You hear? Fine!"

And with that he hurried off into the crowd, leaving us completely puzzled.

"You think it was the cramps?" Tsugumi asked.

"Shh!"

Before long we had our next guests, which were much more sensible company.

"_Konbawa, _Shu. Souta," I greeted.

Fyu-neru handed the boys glasses of punch.

"Thanks, Fyu-neru," Shu said. "And you too, Ayase, Tsugumi."

"Thanks," Souta joined in.

"You two enjoying yourselves?" I asked.

"We'd be pretty lazy not to!" Souta replied. "I don't know the last holiday we had that was this interesting."

"I'm going to get in line to talk to Shibungi—er, Shibungi-_daitouryou_," Shu explained. "Anyone want to join me?"

"Sorry, can't," Tsugumi answered without a moment's hesitation.

"Yes, the stream of customers is thinning out, but we've still got our hands full. You two go on ahead."

"Alright. We'll catch you later."

No sooner did they leave than Arugo showed up behind them, but he didn't seem interested in punch. He was wearing a formal security uniform and had multiple weapons strapped to his body. No doubt he was on duty for Shibungi.

"Hey Arugo, what's up?" Tsugumi asked casually.

"Either of you seen a blonde guy, about 20, scruffy face?" He asked, serious as always.

"Yeah! Friend of yours?" She replied.

"You mean you didn't recognize him? Well...I can't really say it in public."

"E-eh?! What kind of friend can't you talk about in public?"

Arugo let out a frustrated sigh.

"You're not following. Anyway, do you remember where he went?"

"Check the bathroom."

"Great," sarcasm permeated his tone. "Well, will do."

Arugo left then, albeit much more calmly than the man he was searching for. After that some time passed uneventfully. The guests' attention slowly turned from refreshments and conversation to ballroom dancing around the orchestra. When there wasn't much left for me to do I asked Tsugumi if she and Fyu-neru could manage on their own while I joined the others talking to Shibungi. She granted me permission with teasing reluctance and I wheeled away. It wasn't thirty seconds before my journey was interrupted by a minor collision with none other than the same blonde man from before.

"Oh! Excuse me," I exclaimed, refraining from asking why he was walking backwards when we bumped into each other.

"Huh? You again..."

"Sorry," I repeated. "Say, a friend of mine was looking for you just a minute ago. Just a heads-up."

The young man's face turned red again.

"Wha—? Me? She was—I mean..."

I was beginning to feel like maybe I really hadn't ever seen the guy before. Nowhere in my memory did I have any recollection of someone so totally incapable of carrying on a normal conversation.

"Well, excuse me," I ended the exchange before things got any more awkward.

Shu and Souta were just getting their turn with Shibungi when I finally arrived.

"Sounds like quite the party," Shu was saying. "I think everyone needed something like this."

"Agreed. I am a bit disappointed, though," Shibungi said. "I offered to host a chess tournament but nobody would participate." He smiled wryly. It was a rare thing to see Shibungi crack a joke and smile. Subtle as it was, I knew he must be enjoying himself quite a lot to do that. "Ah, Ayase-san. You came up after all."

"_Konbawa_, Shibungi-daitouryou."

"I trust the Endlave march went well?"

"Perfectly."

"Glad to hear it."

A line slowly formed behind us, so we didn't stay for long. But it was good to see for myself just how well Shibungi fit his new role. Honestly I had my doubts that anyone from Funeral Parlor could make it in such a different environment, but by the time I left the platform those worries dissipated completely. I intended to share as much with Tsugumi, but when I returned to the refreshment tables she was nowhere to be found. Fyu-neru stood alone, patiently waiting for anyone that might come for a refill.

"Fyu-neru, where's Tsugumi?"

The robot pointed somewhere just beside the crowd of dancing couples. It took me a moment to see her, but sure enough Fyu-neru was on the mark...and Tsugumi was speaking with the blonde Endlave pilot.

"Listen, I don't know why I'm doing this, but uh...you were—um—looking for me, right?"

"Well if you were looking for a dance partner yourself, then yes!"

"Huh? D-d-dance!?"

I couldn't help but smile. 'Dancing' had an alternate meaning for Tsugumi. She prided herself in the art she'd made of monitoring my Endlave and hacking and who-knows-what-else—simultaneously.

_"This ought to be fun to watch..."_

"Yeah, _dance_. What else do you see people doing around here?"

"But—well—I—you..."

Tsugumi tolerated no excuses, but simply stomped on his foot, smiling so sweetly the whole time that one would think she was completely innocent.

"Just come on, already!"

She grabbed the pilot's hand and pulled him in with the rest of the crowd, eliciting the brightest blush on his face I'd seen yet. To my surprise though, he wasn't terrible at dancing. Tsugumi definitely had the lead, but he followed well enough to keep the situation under control. At least, that's how it went at first. Arugo came back into the grand hall to continue his search, and this time he saw the blonde pilot for himself.

"Umm...let's...move this way," he said to Tsugumi, finally taking the lead and moving them into the crowd, away from Arugo.

_"That's strange..."_

Arugo didn't give up, though. He tried walking through the crowd, but inadvertently got stuck with a partner as someone smoothly traded off. Arugo being Arugo he in turn traded the woman off to someone else as quickly as possible, but by that point Tsugumi and the pilot had circled their way around to Arugo's other side, and he didn't see them. As they momentarily emerged from the crowd the blonde man looked toward Shibungi's platform. Ouma Haruka was speaking with the new president, but she caught the pilot's glance and looked back at him—suspiciously, I thought. Even more suspicious, the pilot quickly averted his gaze and pulled Tsugumi back into the crowd.

_"So he's someone Haruka-san would know?"_

The music seemed to intensify in pace with my thoughts.

_"Avoiding Arugo and Haruka-san...Endlave pilot...Unit 823..." _I worked hard. Then it finally hit me.

The orchestra reached its climax, and right on cue many couples performed their best moves. Whatever Tsugumi and the pilot tried did not work out so well.

"Alright, you win, you little runt!" He complained to Tsugumi before rushing out of the mansion.

Memories of fighting in Endlaves suddenly rushed back to me from three years ago.

_"Yan! Yan Daryl!"_

Arugo hurried to the exit himself, but didn't go out after Daryl.

_"What was he doing here?"_

Even though to my knowledge he'd done nothing wrong, I didn't like to think about any suspicious characters attending the party, though I suppose it was inevitable. Still, the presence of an old enemy called into question my desire to just enjoy the night. I wondered if we members of Funeral Parlor would _ever _be able to just let our guards down. Even in this new society, the world remained a dangerous and unstable place.

* * *

GC

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

"A-ah, I'm completely worn out," I yawned as Haruka and I drove home in the early hours of the morning after the big event.

"Giving in already? Why, the night's only just begun!"

"Ugh, that's not even funny."

"Be glad you're not one of the security guards. I'll bet Arugo-kun has a long night ahead of him."

"Right. Some GHQ guy got in, wasn't it?"

"Yan Daryl, son of GHQ's old commander-in-chief. Apparently he pulled a few strings and gave some less-than-honest information about himself so he could get in to the party by joining in the Endlave parade. Nobody knows why yet, but it's got some people on edge."

"The trouble just never ends, does it?" I almost whispered.

The question was rhetorical, and Haruka didn't answer. In fact, neither of us said anything else at all until the ride was over. There was still so much to think about for the day, but so little energy left to think about it. I barely made it into the apartment building, up the elevator, and into my room without collapsing on the floor. By necessity, Haruka took a bit longer to wind down—I'm sure she had her makeup to un-make, and whatever else that woman did to herself for such a big party. Me, I just kicked off my shoes and let my clothes fall where they would, even though I knew full well I could trip over them in the morning if I forgot what I'd done—which was a real possibility at this hour.

"_O-yasumi, _Shu!" Haruka called from her room before shutting off the lights, which I discerned only by the soft _click_ from the wall. I intended to return the goodnight, but I was so tired that I accidentally hesitated until it was too late to reply. Instead I just lay there on my bed, listening to the ensuing silence with gratitude. I fell soundly asleep in an instant, far too deep to be bothered by nightmares.

Therefore I was surprised to wake up long before morning.

There were no dreams, no noises—nothing immediately obvious to prompt my eyes to open and my mind to reactivate. I rolled over, pulled up the covers again, and waited to fall back asleep.

"Shu!" A voice echoed from afar just as I was about to doze off.

The sound was accompanied by a short rush of cold wind. It was an odd sensation, nothing like the cold of winter. More like...the chill of _death_. I sat up with a start, suddenly realizing just how very cold the entire room had become, even though I was quite certain the window was shut. In fact, it must have been the cold that woke me up.

"W-who's there?" I asked timidly.

No response.

My heartbeat quickened a bit.

_"__Is this just a dream?"_

Dream or not, I couldn't just go back to sleep with the room so cold. I tried to get up and investigate...and quickly tripped over a mess of clothes and shoes on the floor.

"Shoot...I'm definitely awake."

"Shu!"

The voice startled me, and I whirled around to face the direction from whence it came. I could hardly believe what I found.

_"What the...? I can __see something!?"_

It was clear as day, no mistaking it. In the midst of all the darkness that occupied my vision stood a circle of shimmering light, and through it I could see a place I never expected to lay eyes on ever again: Shangri'la, the crystallized world beyond the Apocalypse.

* * *

_Author's notes: I hope you enjoyed this little look at the world through Ayase's eyes. If you did, then don't worry—we'll hear from her again later, and on a more serious note! I just couldn't write this fanfic without trying to capture a bit of Guilty Crown's lighter, more humorous side. And if you didn't like Ayase, then you should also not worry—we'll be spending more time with Shu for a while (but you should be ashamed of yourself, because Ayase is pretty awesome). And obviously the end of this chapter was pretty much just a big teaser for the next, so you know there's a lot to look forward to! The story's really going to pick up next time, so definitely keep your eyes peeled for Phase 23.4. And thanks as always for reading!_


	4. Phase 23-4

**Phase 23.4**

For some time I remained frozen, staring at the impossible sight before me. I held up a hand and sure enough, a silhouette obscured part of my view of Shangri'la through the ring of light. Somehow I was really _seeing_ the place, and it _really _existed, yet I remained blind to everything else.

"_I wonder..."_

I got up and cautiously approached the anomaly, false right hand outstretched. Figured it was the better of my two hands for experimenting. As I half expected, it slipped right through the light and into the crystal world without so much as an itch.

My lungs inhaled sharply as an idea crossed my mind.

"_Inori!"_

I hurriedly got dressed in something warm, afraid the whole time that the portal would vanish before I was ready. But no matter how many times I looked away, it still waited for me, ever more unbelievable each time I laid my eyes upon it but always just as real. Still, the very moment I had an outfit together I wasted no time jumping through to the other side where I set foot on Shangri'la's crystal ground.

_ "I can see...everything!"_

Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked around the world, and down at myself. I was anxious to see what my own body looked like after three years, how my false hand was holding up, and what colors of clothes I put on. Black pants, blue shirt, gray coat—the shades seemed so vibrant compared to my memories, even the darker ones. Haruka made sure I didn't even own anything that would clash, which I imagined meant that much of my clothing was some shade of black or white. I wasn't the least bit concerned with variety right now, though.

I scrambled about the place for a large, flat crystal and held the first one I could find up in front of my face. Naturally my reflection was a bit more mature than I remembered, and some stubble had slightly begun to form since I was too tired to shave before bed.

"Ouma Shu," I said to the reflection, as if to name myself all over again. Overall I was satisfied with what I saw. I'd changed a bit, but I was still very much me. At least, one version of me. There was a time when this crystal world didn't strike the slightest bit of fear in my heart, and a time when I couldn't even approach Inori when she needed my help. A fearless me and a me paralyzed by fear. After living a relatively normal life for so long, it was hard to tell which me's reflection I was looking at.

My self-inspection was interrupted by the wind suddenly swirling by, carrying with it the faint sound of a singing voice—one I knew only too well.

_ "Mou anata kara aisareru koto mo, hitsuyou to sareru koto mo nai..."_

I dropped the crystal from my hand and let it shatter on the ground. More tears threatened to fall. Was I dreaming after all? Was someone just playing a recording? My feet automatically took a slow, careful step towards the source of the wind.

_"Soshite watashi wa koushite hitoribocchi de..."_

Another slow step. It was definitely not my imagination. My ears didn't deceive me. An invisible force seemed to build up within me until at last I cast aside all caution and concern and charged forward in an all-out run after the voice.

_"Come on, keep singing, Inori!"_

She did, and I didn't let up my pace, not even to catch my breath. Through the crystal city I ran, too absorbed in my thoughts to pay attention to where exactly I was going. The _crunch, crunch _of tiny crystals beneath my feet reached an incredible frequency as my legs carried me farther and faster than I knew was possible. At last through the fog a tall, distinctive structure emerged in the distance.

_"Roppongi fort? Is that the tower everyone saw in the video?"_

With a destination in sight I redoubled my charge, determined to settle things as quickly as possible, whatever the truth might be. The fort's presence was rather puzzling, considering this world was a crystal copy of the other and unless I was horribly mistaken Roppongi fort was destroyed years ago. Then again, the same could be said of Inori.

_"Hanasanaide, gyutto te o nigitte ite..."_

The song continued, louder and closer as I reached the foot of the crystal fort and went inside. Of course taking an elevator up to where the music came from was out of the question, so I went straight for the stairs and kept moving, gasping for breath.

"Inoriiii!" I called out, even though I knew she probably wouldn't hear. A large part of me still feared that she wasn't even there at all. But what if she was? That's the question that kept me running. Maybe, just maybe...

By the time I made it to the top floor, I was practically crawling from exhaustion. My vision was spotty. I had no choice but to stop and breathe a moment before entering the room ahead.

_"Tsunaida sono te wa atatakakute, yasashikatta," _the song finished as I forced my feet forward just a few more steps before being stopped in my tracks again. The top floor of Roppongi fort was basically just an observation deck overlooking the city. Only here, all of it was encased in crystal, and the roof was torn open. In its place stood a giant, hollow crystal formation reaching straight up as far as the eye could see, a spiral staircase ascending it along the edge. All manner of strange objects lined the wall of the towering cylinder—none of them crystal, and each on a shelf formed right into the wall. But most importantly of all, sitting on the floor in the center of the room, facing away from me and looking over Shangri'la, was a pink-haired girl with nothing more than a slender white dress to keep her warm amidst the world's hollow cold. She seemed to hear me approach.

_"This is the part where she always turns into Mana..."_

But she didn't. I watched with my jaw hanging open as Yuzuriha Inori slowly turned around and stood up. A few crystals had grown around her face, but for the most part she looked whole. I couldn't believe it. At first in shock I felt absolutely nothing, then there was something of an explosion in my chest. Suddenly my marathon had no toll on my physical state, and I ran forward yet again, calling out Inori's name along the way, this time letting the tears run free.

"Shu!"

Tears sparkled in Inori's eyes as well, increasing my longing for her all the more. I just wanted to hold her close, feel her hand in mine, protect her—but to my surprise and dismay, she firmly held out a hand to stop me before I could.

"Inori?"

I found myself taking Inori's extended hand in mine despite her obvious reluctance, and she gently pulled it away.

"Inori...your hand—it's so cold. Are you—"

"Shu...I'm sorry."

I'd never heard a more thrilling, wonderful apology. Just being able to see and hear Inori again was enough—her words could hardly add more meaning to all the different things I already felt inside.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I want to let you—believe me, I do—but I can't."

"I-I don't understand."

"Mmm."

Inori headed for the spiral staircase.

"Walk with me?" She asked.

Of course I followed, as close beside Inori as she would allow.

"You know, I didn't bring you here for me," she spoke quietly. "But I know you have lots of questions about me, so I will answer them as quickly as I can. But Shu, I..."

"Yes?"

"I feel I should tell you right away that...we can't be together."

A knife pierced my heart, but only made me more determined, as such emotional wounds have a way of doing.

"Inori, what—"

She paused in her ascent of the staircase for a moment to turn and put a finger on my lips. I might have enjoyed it, but the look on her face was so solemn that the gesture only added to my sudden pain.

"Please just listen. You can't be here for long."

More defiant determination burned in my soul. But I complied with her request and decided to leave the debates for later.

"I know you remember that day: the Fourth Apocalypse, when I traded fates with you to release you from the Apocalypse Virus. I know that everyone assumed I was dead. If it had been you and not me, then they would've been right, too. But when I ended up here as all those who die of the infection do, all of the Voids in me started manifesting. I couldn't contain them. It ended up saving my life, though. This tower is itself one giant Void."

"Roppongi fort is a Void?" I asked in amazement.

"Yes. I believe you know the owner: Ouma Mana?"

I broke eye contact with Inori for a moment. Yes, I definitely knew Ouma Mana, as Inori was quite aware. I never knew what her Void was, though.

"Somehow the tower contained the infection," she continued. "Perhaps it is the will of Mana to keep me alive as a vessel for her even now."

The words were hard to hear, and I could tell they were even harder for Inori to say. Still, I kept my mouth shut about it for the time being.

"At first I thought it was permanent, but it turns out the tower acts more as a shield than a sponge. When I tried leaving to explore Shangri'la, the crystals slowly dissolved from the tower and accumulated on me instead. So I hurried back inside, and I've stayed here ever since. I put all the Voids up here where they could be organized, so I could possibly still help you and the others from this world."

"Help...me..."

Inori kept walking even as I stopped a moment to grasp what she was saying.

"Say, I don't mean to be rude, but what took you so long? Why'd you wait three years to let everyone know you're still alive?"

She turned again and simply looked upward into the endless crystal tube.

"There is a Void here for every soul under 18 years of age. I believe that means something like a billion Voids or more. As you can imagine, it took me a while to find one that could open a gateway between my world and yours."

"Don't talk like that. You may have been here for three years, but my world is still your world too."

Inori made a small noise and dropped her upward gaze to look down at her feet instead. I don't think she even realized how she'd come to think of us as belonging in separate places. A sad expression took over her face.

"So, uh...how'd you do it?" I asked, trying to brighten the mood. "Which Void finally opened the way?"

"This one," she pointed sullenly, no happier than before.

_ "A telescope that can see other worlds..."_

"Shu? Am I a burden?"

"Huh? What brought that up?"

"You've been blind for the last three years because of me, right? And you worried because you thought I was dead, so..."

Distant or not, I couldn't let this go on any longer. Before she had time to react and stop me I threw my coat around Inori's shoulders and held both her hands in mine. Her eyes widened, almost as if in shock.

"It's..._warm_..." she thought aloud.

"You'll never be a burden to me, Inori. It's true, all I could think about for the last three years was seeing you again. But now that you're here, well...it makes me realize that I didn't really mind being blind. Somehow...having your blindness made us feel close, in a way."

"Shu..."

It seemed Inori might cry, but then she shook her head, withdrew her hands, and handed my coat back to me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I've taken too long. There is still much to tell you about Da'ath. That is why I sent you a video of my song and brought you here: to warn you."

We started ascending the staircase again as Inori talked.

"This Void up here—no, not that one, this one—lets me listen in on the _other _world. It's a little hard to control, but I've learned a lot through it. Shu, look at me."

There was no need to obey. I hadn't taken my eyes off Inori since I arrived.

"Da'ath is closer than you think, Shu. You must be alert at all times. Make sure other people are watching you when you can't watch yourself. I know it sounds selfish, but please do as I say."

"I don't understand."

Inori leaned against the crystal stair rail and looked out at the vast collection of Voids all around us.

"Da'ath seeks the evolutionary 'rebirth' of humanity. They are impossibly ancient, and they always operate in the shadows. They also made this world, Shangri'la, to be a staging grounds for their 'rebirth'. I don't know how they've made it so that everyone who dies from the Virus ends up here for their final crystallization, but that in itself is Da'ath's greatest weapon: mystery. I think Gai would call them 'an unknown variable'."

I joined Inori in leaning over the rail, and she turned only her eyes to look at me.

"I don't know all the details, but I am quite certain they believe that since I traded with you, you can reawaken Mana."

"Me? But Mana can't even do anything to me like she...like she could to you."

"Like I said, I don't understand it all myself. But you are now Da'ath's greatest target. I couldn't risk waiting to figure it out before warning you, but I am also taking a great risk in telling you about it here without knowing more about them."

Neither of us said anything else for a moment, until I broke the silence again with a question.

"So, Da'ath is just another organization, like an opposite of Funeral Parlor?"

"Yes, you describe it well. Gai wanted to save lives and restore the order, but Da'ath wants to destroy all life to establish a new order."

"Sounds a lot like GHQ too, really. All that 'purging' of the infected that they did, even though most of the time it was just an excuse to get rid of anyone not convenient for them."

"GHQ was Da'ath's puppet. I've learned that the two of them were more closely linked than anyone ever realized—like a mind and a body."

"Right...Da'ath or whatever they are couldn't really stay so secret and turn into a government, too. So they pulled in some other guys under a different name to do their dirty work for them. Sound about right?"

"Mmm," Inori hummed her affirmation. "But things are different now. Da'ath has everything they need except an Apocalypse. I believe they might sacrifice their secrecy for that result, now. You've seen for yourself how dangerous they are. And without your Void Genome..."

She shook her head and didn't finish her sentence.

"Now you see why I had to warn you?"

"A-ah." I thought about all my nightmares of Mana. I didn't want to think that there could be any real danger in them, but if Da'ath thought so, then I couldn't help but be a bit concerned. "Then...then let me stay here!" I blurted out.

"E-eh?"

"I want to be with you," I moved over to put my hands on the rail surrounding Inori, forcing her to look at me where she couldn't just walk away. "If I stay here then Da'ath can't do anything to us. Nobody can! It'll just be you and me." I caressed Inori's face along the crystal growth, longing to protect her.

"You know I can't accept that, Shu. You still have a life to live," she pushed me back with surprising force, releasing herself.

"So do you!"

"Yes, here. This is where I belong, now. It is my duty to contain the Virus here, and use its Voids to help those in the other world. It is my burden—my Guilty Crown. But you belong in the other world. You have to go back."

"Now wait just a minute Inori, you—"

"Shh. I don't want to do this, but I have to. We have to say goodbye. You should leave this place now, Ouma Shu."

"No! I won't leave you again!"

"Goodbye, Shu. It was nice seeing you again."

"Inori? Inori!"

With that she turned her back on me and acted like I didn't exist. I hated the thought of leaving, but I didn't want to make Inori mad or frustrated with me either, and she made her stance quite clear. Dejected, I slowly turned and walked back down the spiral staircase, stopping only once to shout and bang the wall with my fist. The sharp crystal cut into my hand until it bled, but I didn't care. I wanted to cause something a bit of pain.

_ "I'm really going to do it, then," _I thought. _"I'm just going to walk away and leave Inori here. Am I really alright with that?" _

My mind went back to our first meeting, in the old club room I dreamed about only a day ago. I didn't protect her back then when GHQ showed up to arrest her for stealing the Void Genome. Later, I left her behind to cover for the rest of Funeral Parlor's infiltration team when we took down the Leukocyte. After that, I couldn't stop her being kidnapped by Yuu, the self-proclaimed 'Envoy of Da'ath'. I was too late to rescue her from Mana. All the time, Inori was always there for me, yet I never managed to return the favor.

_"No," _I firmly decided. _"__I won't do it. I won't go back to living like a coward. The trouble may never end, but I'm going to face it head on. I'm sorry Inori, but this is who you've shown me to be—__and __I _will_ protect you this time! Think, Shu__: __do__ something out of character again!"_

My focus seemed to be providentially drawn to the rows and rows of Voids on the wall. Inori couldn't leave the tower without the infection following her, but in theory the reverse wouldn't have the same result. As I finally descended the staircase I discreetly slipped the telescope Void into my coat, first making sure Inori's back was still turned. Then I rushed out of the tower and ran back to the portal as fast as my legs could carry me. When I stepped back into my room—and my blindness, regretfully enough—barely any time had passed. It was like I'd never even been gone. Perhaps time itself operated differently in Shangri'la.

"Well if the world beyond the Apocalypse can bend the rules, then so can I," I tried to justify my theft.

I held the telescope up in front of the ring of light so I could see its silhouette, and then collapsed it firmly. As expected, the act of closing the telescope also closed off the portal, and once again the world was made of blackness and the air was pleasantly warm. If not for the Void in my hands, I might have even discounted everything as nothing more than a remarkable dream. But the Void was my security—my proof of what transpired, and my ticket to see Inori again whenever I wanted.

...If only something about it didn't feel so wrong.


	5. Phase 23-5

**Phase 23.5**

The following day couldn't have gone slower. I didn't want to tell anyone about my exchange with Inori for a variety of reasons—not the least of which was fear that Da'ath might somehow learn of it—and as a result possessing the telescope Void instantly became a real predicament. I couldn't carry it around with me, but leaving it in my bedroom also seemed like a pretty big risk. My daydreams were all waking nightmares of someone discovering that I brought a Void back into the world and panic breaking out. Every other thought was on what I'd do when I went back to Inori with it, and how she'd respond. Haruka noticed the effect on my behavior and offered to take me on an outing, but of course that was exactly _not _what I wanted to do and so I politely declined, pretending to look busy at my computer instead. Only, it was hard to fake such a thing as a blind man who had to use voice commands and physical gestures to use a computer. Without any deliberateness to my actions, it was pretty obvious I was just wasting time. In the end I successfully never left the telescope's hiding place in my side table for long, but the cost was an entire day filled with awkwardness, which of course did little to prepare me for my next chance to use the Void and see Inori. Originally the plan was to give her a couple days to let the emotions cool off, but by that evening I knew that another day of living like this was completely out of the question. Besides, knowing where she was and that I had the power to visit her, it seemed almost cruel to delay my return any longer than necessary.

That night I waited anxiously on my bed for Haruka to sound the final 'click' of the light and go to bed. Even though it was late, I wasn't the least bit tired. Without much deliberation I decided to go straight into the world beyond the Apocalypse rather than sleep for a few hours first. I dressed myself up warm and then collected a coat, a blanket, a bottle of water, and some leftover rice balls for Inori. It wasn't much, and certainly far less than I wanted to give, but so long as this remained my secret I couldn't take so much that the loss would be noticeable. Then I found the telescope Void safe and sound in my side table and took a peek through it. Just as I hoped, through its lens I could see Shangri'la, clear as the crystals it was made of. I found a place where the tower was visible in the distance, and then extended the telescope. When I lowered it from my eye, sure enough, a portal stood before me with the exact same perspective as I just saw. I walked through and headed for the tower, much slower this time than before. Even with having all day to think about how to approach Inori I had no idea what to say, and I still didn't when I reached the tower and ascended the many stairs to the top floor, but I refused to let uncertainty and indecision stop me now.

In the end none of it mattered—when I made it up top and looked inside, Inori was sobbing quietly on her knees, hands covering her face. Seeing that, all words escaped my mind. I could've cried, myself. Instead I simply approached Inori from behind and gently set the blanket over her shoulders. She startled and stopped crying but didn't turn to face me, and I didn't try to make her. I just lay the plastic container of rice balls on the floor and then went to sit on the stairs, looking away from Inori to respect her insistence that we remain separate. For a while the world was eerily still and silent, but then the pop of a plastic lid split the air. I waited patiently while Inori ate, my mind strangely calm all of a sudden.

"Umm, I also brought something for you to drink," I offered, walking over to set down the bottle of water. "And a coat, too. It's not very feminine, but it will keep you warm, and it's easier to manage than a blanket."

I set the items down by the now-empty plastic container, but a hand grabbed onto my arm before I could stand back up.

"You can look at me, Shu."

My eyes slowly met Inori's. She looked so weak in her current state, but at the same time so very beautiful to me. In my blindness I'd nearly forgotten just how captivating her eyes were. They alone communicated more than words ever could. Her skin was pale, her hair a mess, and her clothes bedraggled, but those eyes—they were impervious to the effects of time.

I tried reaching for her hand, and she held it back.

"Don't," she said. "It will only make things harder."

I handed her the bottle of water instead, momentarily diverting my gaze. Inori downed half of it in only a few gulps.

"Sorry, I should have brought more."

"Well, I wasn't exactly expecting _anything_."

"A-ah, right. I suppose...you weren't even expecting me, huh."

"Shu?"

"Hmm?"

"Why'd you come back?"

"To see you."

"That's not what I meant."

"E-eh?"

"I told you before: I brought you here to warn you about Da'ath. I told you that you couldn't be here. So why did you come back?"

Just like Inori to pry straight past the surface. I took a deep breath.

"I suppose...you already know this by now," I forced myself to say, "but...yesterday, I took one of the Voids with me. The telescope. That's how I got back in. You...probably already figured that out, though."

Inori made no response but to look at me with a puzzled expression.

"I'm—I'm really sorry," I continued. "It was stupid of me. A stupid risk. I could have hurt you or any number of other people. I just hated leaving you so much, I—I didn't think it through. That's why...I'm going to give it back."

I carefully drew the Void from my coat and held it out with both hands.

"I should have trusted you. I didn't before, but I'm going to now. I guess that's really why I came here. I needed to apologize, and not just give this back, but to actually trust you with it. I know it means I might not get to see you again, but I have to trust you. I..._want _to trust you."

"I'd think twice before doing that," a new voice echoed throughout the tower—a voice I hadn't heard in years, and never really thought I'd hear again. I was on my feet in an instant, watching in disbelief as a curly blonde-haired boy in a white coat descended from above and landed before Inori and me without harm. Yuu, the Envoy of Da'ath. He hardly seemed real, showing up all of a sudden. Then again, Yuu never seemed completely real.

"Ouma Shu," he said. "It's been a while."

"Now this is an unexpected meeting," I replied, trying to sound unafraid.

"On the contrary. You know, leaving a door open tends to let in a terrible draft."

I clenched my fists.

_"This can't be happening," _I burned with anger at myself. The past day felt so wrong in so many ways—why did it have to culminate in this? This was a mess I absolutely had to clean up. The results of failing to do so would quite literally be catastrophic, if Da'ath was involved. Inori sensed my rage and stood up to put a hand on my shoulder.

"Control yourself, Shu. It will be alright," she whispered calmly. No berating me for causing trouble, just simple words of comfort. Inori then waved her other hand and the telescope Void lifted from my grasp and floated straight to its shelf above us.

"Is it not intriguing, Ouma Shu?" Yuu taunted. "For all your denials of Mana, you are still irresistibly drawn to her copy. Or perhaps your connection to Mana now runs deeper than even that?"

"Inori is not a copy!" I defended. "She's more her own person than Mana ever was!"

"Hmph. Then I suppose you know how she was birthed?"

Inori's eyes widened. I sensed there was something about that detail she preferred not to talk about.

"I don't need to know! It's not where she came from that matters, it's who she is!"

"Well, with that level of ignorance I suppose I was following you for naught."

Yuu dissipated into thin air and rematerialized right in front of me, one hand outstretched, palm facing upward.

"Yet still, it is not too late."

A strange fruit appeared in his hand.

"How have you changed, Ouma Shu? Do you no longer care to save the world, or are you simply afraid to try?"

The question was as unexpected as it was disagreeable to consider. From my point of view I'd changed in many respects, but my perspective on saving the world was not one I often considered. Blinded and stripped of my king's power I'd settled down in life and left the big decisions to people like Shibungi, who were in a position to actually do something about our ongoing problems as a nation. And recently my focus was on saving Inori, not everyone else. I wasn't so sure that I couldn't sacrifice myself to save everyone again, but I was definitely out of practice.

"I don't know how I've changed," I replied, "but I do know one thing: I will never be your Adam."

Yuu closed his eyes and his hand, making the fruit disappear.

"Foolish, but unsurprising. You _will_ be our king this time, whether you are also our Adam or not. You _shall_ save the world by destroying it. Are you truly so blind to the power which smolders inside you? No matter. Reluctance is the natural response to change. Perhaps you simply need some..._motivation_."

Yuu's eyes shot open and with a rush of wind he flew backwards, sending crystal shards flying from the floor. I turned and shielded Inori with my body, but to my surprise no stinging pains followed. When I dared to look again Inori was holding a strange ball in her hands, a large shield emitting from it to protect us.

"Kuhouin Arisa's Void?" I muttered.

An idea crossed my mind.

"Inori! Let me use _your_ Void!"

She seemed oddly conflicted at my request.

"My...Void? As you wish."

Looking away, Inori reached into the air and drew a tiny object from the Void collection above. When it landed in her hand, I could see it was a crystal flower, sparkling an array of colors in the light.

"Huh? Where's the sword?" I asked.

"Change of heart, change of Void," Yuu explained proudly. "How touching."

He charged through the air and vanished just before colliding with the shield, but then reappeared behind Inori and me.

"Shu!" She called my attention as Yahiro's shears Void descended into my hands at her command. I snatched the shears out of the air and swung at Yuu before he could launch into an attack of his own, but as anticipated he quickly transported again, out of harm's way.

"Use Arugo's Void, Inori!"

She must have listened, for a few moments later a bubble of darkness spread around Yuu. Of course he tried to escape it as soon as possible, but in the split second delay it caused him I dove for the bubble and swung the shears through it. There was a slight connection at the tips of the blades, and when Yuu reappeared he had a cut along one cheek, dripping with blood.

_ "He's definitely real," _I observed.

He was also very angry. In our last fight I used the same tactic with Arugo's Void to finally land a blow, and now Yuu had fallen for it twice. I'd discovered a weakness—something Yuu worked hard to make others believe he didn't have.

"Stop hiding behind Voids and face me as your true self, Ouma Shu!"

"Who's been hiding, Yuu of Da'ath? You're just angry that you lost your Void Genome," the words sounded strangely like Gai as they came out of my mouth.

"Hmph. And I suppose you've forgotten that you no longer possess the king's power yourself because you have this _fake_ with you?"

The constant attacks on Inori's nature were intended to anger me, and I knew it, but they worked regardless. I let out a battle cry and foolishly ran at the mysterious boy, swinging at him while he disappeared and then again in a full circle around me to try and catch him as he came back. The entire move was completely unsuccessful.

"What's more fake than someone who vanishes into thin air?" I challenged.

"I am the future of the human race," Yuu replied, now elsewhere in the room. "Even without the Void Genome I am gifted with genetic modifications you cannot begin to understand. Da'ath is infinitely your superior, Ouma Shu. You may either join us or be selected out, but we have need of your power, and we _will_ obtain it."

"Shu!"

It suddenly occurred to me that Inori had been awfully quiet for a while. Now that she called out my name, I saw that she'd gone up the spiral staircase a ways and now held in her hand a Void that bore a striking resemblance to a sniper rifle. She also dropped a second Void down to me which had the handle of a gun but otherwise looked like some kind of strange miniature satellite. A moment later Yuu was assaulted from above with a barrage of crystal bullets, each one preceded by the ear-splitting crack of Inori's sniper. The projectiles never reached their target, however. Yuu held a hand out in their direction and stopped them all in midair with some invisible power. Inori didn't let up, perhaps hoping that his ability to stop the bullets was limited, but not one ever broke through. Eventually Yuu was surrounded by crystal ammunition hovering in place, and I could tell he was preparing to send it all flying back at us.

"Now, Shu!"

I instinctively pulled the trigger on my Void and watched in amazement as the thing vibrated and produced a sound so high-pitched my ears could barely detect it and so intense that the air rippled before it. A straight line of distortion extended beyond me and collided with the crystal bullets, causing them to shatter almost instantly. Either Yuu wasn't expecting it or he couldn't stop all the resulting shards, for he was quickly pricked all over by the explosion of tiny crystals.

"Come now, isn't this a bit unfair?" He complained through gritted teeth. "Let's even the odds, shall we?"

Yuu used his teleportation ability to quickly scale up the wall to where the Voids were. Inori continued firing all the while, but despite her flawless aim she couldn't land a shot what with him zipping all over the place. He came to a halt by the shelf of another gun-type Void and immediately picked it up and fired into the floor.

"Awaken, Cocytus! Join me, Ouma Shu!"

A bubble formed on the ground and quickly grew to encompass the entire tower, nullifying the gravity of everything in its wake. Inori and I floated upward towards Yuu, all three of us reorienting ourselves to stand on the cylindrical wall along the way. The billion Voids were also all lifted from their resting places and started drifting aimlessly through the air, free for the taking. The next few minutes were a flurry of activity which would have been impossible to keep track of without an adrenaline rush. Yuu took hold of a shuriken Void and threw the bladed discs at Inori and me, but each of us took hold of sword-type Voids and parried the shurikens, sending sparks flying everywhere until at last they burst entirely. Together we leaped into the air and collided with Yuu in the middle of the tower, shouting all the way. With inhuman precision he spun around and took hold of the swords by the hilts and wrenched them from our hands, kicking off of us to generate enough momentum to land back on the wall. Inori and I fell against the opposite wall in a tangled crash, but neither of us were seriously injured.

"He has two blades, so we can't approach him with gun or sword," Inori thought out loud.

"Do you have any Voids that generate electricity?"

We jumped away from each other just in the nick of time as Yuu sailed across the tower to try and run us through. His swords hit the crystal wall with a _clang _mere centimeters away from my face. A moment later I spun myself around in midair to face Inori right as she threw a Void in my direction. It was huge—I had to use both hands to grab hold, and that at the same time as I flipped over so as to land on my feet and not my head. On went the giant Void at my command, emanating from the front a thick beam of flickering lightning which naturally found its way to Yuu's metal swords. Between the two Yuu's body completed the electrical circuit and he received a tremendous shock, shattering the swords in a bright flash of light and sending him to the ground—the true, right-side-up ground—completely unconscious.

I exchanged the electrical Void for another sword-type one while Inori tracked down the anti-gravity Void and disabled it, slowly dropping us back down where we belonged. There I cautiously approached Yuu, who still occasionally trembled from the shock.

"There's a lot I don't understand about you," I said while readying my sword, even though I doubted he could hear. "Maybe I even pity you. But this fight has gone on too long and I can't allow it to continue. You wonder if I can still save the world? To kill was never my wish, but for the sake of the others whose lives you endanger...I will."

I raised the sword and prepared to run Yuu through by the back of the neck. But just before I could, one of my feet suddenly hurt with an excruciating pain. Apparently Yuu still held the hilts of the broken swords in his hands, and he'd come back to his senses just enough to reach over and stab my foot with one of them. I cried out, but tried to quickly bring the sword down on him regardless. Unfortunately I was too late, and Yuu teleported back onto his feet. My sword was down and my mind was foggy with pain—I was completely vulnerable to attack.

"Killing you was never my intention either, Ouma Shu, but you have proven yourself too great an annoyance. We will salvage what we need...and dispose of the rest!"

The Envoy of Da'ath leaped forward with his remaining broken sword aimed straight for my heart. I had no time to react. For half a moment my mind realized that this was it—this was my end. But then time seemed to slow and something else collided with me before the sword could.

It was Inori.

She tried to tackle me from the side and knock us both out of the way, but the dodge was a moment too slow and on the way down Yuu's sword sliced not through my heart, but through Inori's right wrist. Watching her hand be dismembered hurt far worse than if I had been killed. The pain in my foot vanished from my consciousness as I was overcome with an ache much deeper and more vibrant. Something in the core of my being had been utterly violated. Before I could even really comprehend what happened I was already getting back on my feet, feeling more like I was pushing the world down than shoving myself up. On the way I took hold of the broken sword stuck in my foot and effortlessly pulled it out, clenching it in my fist. With all my might I squeezed the weapon, feeding into it a subtle fury I never knew existed. The hilt slowly crystallized, which should have been surprising, but I wasn't thinking normally just then. My mind was in an elevated consciousness that felt as much like being out of control as totally in control. I dropped the crystallized sword on the ground and then looked up at Yuu as shimmering strands of DNA swirled through the air from Inori's fallen hand to form a bond of sorts around his right hand and wrist. Inori's power, the sum total collection of the Apocalypse Virus and every associated Void, now belonged to Yuu of Da'ath.

"You..." I growled.

My adversary simply stood and smiled wickedly for a moment, pleasantly shocked by the sudden turn of events.

"Interesting," he said. "Fate, it seems, has a sense of humor."

Something exploded in me, then. I shouted with all my might and thrust my left hand forward without even thinking about why I felt the urge to do so. A crystal spike protruded from my palm and grew until it reached far enough to knock the sword from Yuu's grasp before the entire spike simply disintegrated. Inspired by this development, I yelled again and ran forward, swiftly shooting out two more spikes, one from each hand. This time I shoved them through Yuu's feet and into the ground and then severed them from my arms, leaving him pinned to the floor. I shot out another spike along his clean cheek so that both sides of his face featured matching cuts, and then I leaned in close.

"Remember what happens if you have the power of kings more than once?" I asked. "You get selected out."

With that I shot out one more spike and rammed it straight through Yuu's stomach until it protruded out the other side. He made no sound—no indication of being in any pain at all—but slowly the strange boy started to crystallize, starting at his feet and moving upward. I broke off the last spike from my arm and stood back, breathing hard. Yuu only laughed.

"So you have finally awakened, Ouma Shu. Then it would seem there is hope for you, yet."

The crystals continued growing up to Yuu's chest.

"My mission is completed. Now, here I shall stand in atonement for my failures. Give in to despair, oh vessel of Cocytus! For I, the Envoy of Da'ath, have won."

With that, Yuu's face was completely obscured, frozen in an unsettling, mischievous grin. His crystallization complete, all the Voids in the tower suddenly rushed into the pillar of their newest owner and vanished from sight, leaving the place almost empty. The fight was finally over.

"Inori!"

I rushed over to where the girl lay unconscious, fallen in a pool of blood coming from her right arm. The crystals had vanished from her face.

_"__Think, think, think..."_

I found the blanket I brought in earlier and wrapped it tightly around Inori's wound. It was terrible feeling a stub where a hand should have been, especially since I knew the sensation all too well from my own experiences. And I hated how the severed arm marred Inori's otherwise flawless beauty. Seeing that eased a bit of the filthiness I felt inside from so utterly destroying Yuu.

"Come on," I said while carefully picking Inori up, "we've got to get you home."

* * *

_Author's Notes: Well, that was quite the chapter to write! Personally I feel it's a bit sub-par compared to the last couple chapters of this fanfic, but of course it presented a lot of new challenges and action sequences, which are kind of tough to do. Or maybe I just have an unrealistically low opinion of it after spending so long evaluating all the details to try and edit out the bad stuff. I'll let you be the judge of that one. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this fanfic, and thanks for reading this far! This chapter may have seemed like something of a climax, but trust me, there's still much more to come!_


	6. Phase 23-6

**Phase 23.6**

"Where are you now, _Otouto-chan_?"

"Shangri...la," I answered drowsily without opening my eyes or wondering who was asking.

"Do you want to go home, _Otouto-chan_?"

"We can't," I yawned. "Yuu has the Voids, now. The portal is closed. Inori and I are...Inori!"

I sat up with a start and shot open my eyes as the memories came back to me. After the fight with Yuu of Da'ath I carried Inori out of the tower to try and take her back to the other world for medical help. She didn't crystallize outside because Yuu had taken her Void Genome, but as a side effect he also possessed the telescope Void and so the portal I opened with it was nowhere to be found. As the world beyond the Apocalypse is a copy of the real world I hoped perhaps I could find something useful in one of the hospitals, but as expected everything was crystallized beyond use—even the basic first-aid kits. Carrying Inori around everywhere as dead weight was hard work, and eventually I got so tired that I set us down somewhere to sleep for a while.

_"Does that mean this is a..."_

I looked around and found myself on a warm beach at sunset.

_"...dream?"_

A childlike laugh drew my attention to the left. It was Mana, but not appearing as Inori. This time she was just the kid I knew before the first Lost Christmas. The rest of the dream seemed uncharacteristically coherent, too.

"There you are, _Otouto-chan_!"

Before I could stop her Mana leaped over and hugged me tightly around the neck.

"What's...going on?" I didn't want to get too friendly with Mana, but I also knew that making her angry would only bring the dream to an unpleasant end. So long as she was in an amicable mood, I'd play along unless she crossed any lines.

Mana laughed happily at my question.

"I woke up, silly! Now you'll be able to see again!"

"Wait, I will?"

She finally let go of me and nodded.

"You were blind because my eyes were closed, but now I'm awake and they are open!"

The idea sent shivers down my spine.

"But you were still asleep when I first went into Shangri'la, weren't you? How come I could see in there?"

"Shangri'la is different. It doesn't exist the same way the rest of the world does. I don't think you'd even need eyes to see there."

"Well I suppose you opened yours for nothing then, since it sounds like Inori and I are trapped there."

"Inori? You mean _that_ awful girl?"

Mana's complexion completely transformed before my eyes into something terribly dark and sinister. Without even thinking she grabbed two fistfuls of sand and squeezed them until the grains sifted through her fingers.

"I want to grind her to a pulp!"

"Mana!"

She snapped out of her rage and went back to being a deceptively sweet little girl.

"Hmm? What were we talking about?"

I sighed and shook my head.

"Nothing."

"Is something wrong, _Otouto-chan_?"

"I just told you: I'm trapped in Shangri'la," I avoided mentioning Inori. "Someone took away the exit, and now we—er, I can't get out."

Mana saw right through my simplification of the situation.

"You don't need a Void to leave Shangri'la!" She giggled. "I'm made of the same power that place is made of, now. I can open the way for you!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm your big sister, silly," she tapped me lightly on the forehead, causing a sparkle to appear in the air.

"Now, just close your eyes," she pushed my eyelids shut, "and when you're ready, just open your eyes to open the door."

"Open my eyes...to open the door..."

I concentrated hard on waking myself from the dream and then opened my eyes as instructed. Mana's giggles and the sounds of the beach echoed distantly and faded away, and for a few moments all I could see was bright light. Then the world slowly came into focus, and I blinked a few times to clear away the remaining blurriness.

"My...living room?"

Silent tears started rolling down my face. Part of me was afraid I hadn't actually woken up. I was back home, and I could still see! I could _see!_ According to the microwave clock it was still early morning, but the sun was already up, shining through the glass sliding door to the little balcony outside.

A weight shifted in my lap, followed by a soft moan. Inori was still in my arms, struggling to regain consciousness.

"Harukaaa!" I shouted while standing up with Inori. A few seconds later my step-mother's bedroom door flew open.

"Wait, don't come out here dressed like that!"

"How do you know what I'm dressed like? Huh? Inori-chan!? Shu, what's—"

"I can see again! Now call an ambulance, Inori's hurt bad! Just...get dressed before they show up!"

Of course Haruka had no idea what was going on, but she could hear the urgency in my voice and see the sort of condition Inori was in, so she listened and made the call. The ambulance arrived before long and we followed shortly behind on its return trip to the hospital. On the way I gave Arugo a call to briefly explain the situation, and as part of Shibungi's personal guard he helped us dodge having to tell the hospital exactly what happened to Inori's arm. The assistance came with a condition, though: Inori and I would have to meet with Shibungi once she was better and explain everything in greater detail. It was hardly a trade to get a private meeting with the president, so of course I accepted the proposition.

For the time being I stayed at the hospital, never leaving Inori's side—not even to eat as the day rolled on into the afternoon. She was given a false hand similar to mine, only a bit lighter colored, as a gift from Shibungi. Haruka and I could have afforded it without his help, but not easily. During the operation I sat off to Inori's left, holding her good hand all the while. The surgeons told me it would help keep her calm.

Of course with two members of Funeral Parlor in the know, the news of Inori traveled fast to the others. By evening she was awake and stable and getting used to her new hand, so Ayase and Tsugumi paid a visit to check up on her—and in the case of Tsugumi, also to slap me on the face.

"Ow! What was that for?" I complained.

"That's for keeping secrets. We would've helped if we'd known, you know."

"A-ah...I should have thought of that. Sorry." My cheeks went a bit hot. The confrontation with Yuu was unanticipated, but even so I shouldn't have tried to handle things all on my own. Maybe if I'd thought it through a bit better, Inori would still have her right hand. Of course, in that case she'd also still be confined to that tower.

"How's the hand holding up?" Tsugumi asked, turning to Inori as she sat up in bed doing motion exercises with the new prosthetic.

"Fine. A bit difficult to adjust to," she responded drowsily.

"I hear you can see again, Shu," Ayase said. "Is that really true?"

"Yeah. I guess something about spending time in Shangri'la fixed the problem," I shrugged, avoiding the real reason.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Seven," I chuckled. "And you have something on your face."

"What? I do!?"

It was nice to laugh with everyone again, and just be happy and relaxed together for a change. The air itself seemed a bit easier to breathe. But Inori was tired from surgery, and so the girls left before long to let her get some rest. I offered to leave as well for privacy's sake, but after thinking about it for a moment Inori shook her head.

"You can stay if you like, but...I'll be alright."

_"__Sounds like that's the end of the separation thing," _I observed.

I stayed in the hospital room until Inori fell asleep, then wished her goodnight and went home to grab a bite to eat and sleep a while myself. I couldn't remember the last time I had a day that left me feeling quite so happy and content. For once, I'd actually be able to rest easy.

If only Mana didn't have to pester me every night.

* * *

GC

* * *

"So that's the story, then," Shibungi thoughtfully folded his hands on his desk.

"Yes," Inori replied. "Unfortunately we don't know more than we've already told you."

I kept a straight face despite the conflict her words brought to my mind. For the past few days as Inori recovered I debated whether or not I would tell her and Shibungi about my nightmares of Mana, but I never made a final decision one way or the other and in the end defaulted to not saying anything. Inori was already unconscious when I discovered my ability to manifest the Apocalypse Virus crystals, so nobody knew about it but me. I didn't forget what Tsugumi said about relying on the others for support instead of keeping secrets, but this secret was on a totally different level. It could potentially be the difference between the nation's current state of peace and total chaos. I didn't understand what happened myself, but it clearly had a connection with Mana and the Virus—two things which would easily be exaggerated if spread about by word-of-mouth. In reality I bore no symptoms of the Apocalypse Virus, and Mana couldn't take over my body. I just couldn't count on everyone else being calm enough about it to think of things that way.

"So there is really no way for us to access this 'Shangri'la' place now?" Shibungi asked, returning my attention to our report.

"I'm afraid not," Inori replied. "As I said, _all_ of the Voids went into the Da'ath agent when he severed my hand."

From the corner of my eye I noticed Inori running her good hand over her false one, running over its unfamiliar contours and getting used to the sensation of feeling things through a prosthetic. I sympathized with the difficulty of adjusting to a new hand, but of course said nothing of it in the meeting.

"Well then, it is fortunate you made it back at all," Shibungi concluded. "For that I am glad. However, it bothers me that Da'ath now holds all the cards—even if this agent is dead and crystallized, as you say. I find it hard to believe that they created Shangri'la and lost the key, so to speak."

"It is true, though," I joined in. "Yuu himself admitted to following me through the portal I opened."

"How can we trust his word? Perhaps the portal was a convenient way to avoid divulging an alternate entrance."

"It's not impossible, but I don't think so," Inori said. "I listened in on Da'ath from the tower many times, and I only ever heard that they could not get into Shangri'la."

_"__They're both right,"_ I thought. _"There is an alternate way, but it's Mana, and Da'ath doesn't have her, either."_

"I know I have already inquired about this, but tell me again: what all _did _you learn about Da'ath from the tower?"

Inori sighed and thought hard.

"They couldn't get into Shangri'la, but they didn't seem too concerned about that specifically. Da'ath believes that Mana can still be reawoken, and that they need Shu to do it—that's mostly what I heard, though I don't know exactly how they expect him to. There was also a bit of controversy within Da'ath itself, but it was hard to follow. Still, I don't think Yuu was actually its leader. I think he might have been under pressure to make up for Shu defeating him a few years ago. And then there were the little things I heard about GHQ. Apparently it really was set up by the UN, but from the beginning Da'ath had many agents within it, and as soon as Keido Shuichiro took over, GHQ was for all practical purposes the body to Da'ath's mind. They were very closely linked."

"That still leaves us with many unanswered questions, I'm afraid."

"I'm sorry, Shibungi-daitouryou."

"No need to be, Inori-san. It is good that you are back and that you brought what information you could along with you. And of course all that is in large part thanks to you, Shu-san. The two of you did well. However, now I must ask a favor."

Shibungi stood up from his desk to speak to us a bit closer and more personally.

"Ouma Shu, Yuzuriha Inori: I am formally asking for your cooperation. It is clear that this 'Da'ath' remains at large, and indeed is the real threat GHQ once posed. We cannot afford for such an organization to threaten what little stability this country and its new administration has, and therefore I would like to send you both to Camp Makishi for a while. It is a rural but very well-defended military base in Okinawa. So long as we do not understand what we are up against we can only operate on the knowledge that somehow the two of you are of great interest to Da'ath, and we would much prefer that they don't have you. I understand what an inconvenience this will be, but guarding you is our only solution for the time being."

"I understand," Inori and I nodded in unison.

"Good, then it is settled. You have my thanks. I'll arrange for an escort, but don't worry: it won't be big and intimidating. The point is for Da'ath not to know where you are or where you're going, after all. And of course I will begin further investigations on Da'ath right away—if we learn anything concerning either of you, I promise you'll be the first to know."

"So little is known about them...will anyone even be able to find anything without a Void?" I wondered aloud.

"Da'ath's not used to being branded as the terrorists. That was _our_ job back in the days of Funeral Parlor. Now that the tables have turned I am confident we hold a distinct advantage. You needn't worry yourselves over it in Makishi, though. Consider it a well-earned vacation."

I wasn't so sure about a military base being vacation material, or about leaving behind my home and friends for that matter, but I knew in a heartbeat that it would be foolish for Inori and I to just try and blend in with society after killing one of Da'ath's most valuable agents. The discomfort would be a necessary sacrifice. Besides, I was being asked to spend some time alone with Inori. After three years, we had some catching up to do.

* * *

_Author's notes: Sorry it's another short one for today. Originally the plan was to include a bit more of the story in this chapter, but when I realized I was already well over 2,000 words I figured it would be best to move that other stuff forward to Phase 23.7 so I can write it properly without a huge word count constraint. What exactly is that 'other stuff'? Well, I won't spoil it for anyone, but personally I'm kinda excited about it. So stay tuned for that. In other news, I've rounded out my notes a lot more, so I'm getting a lot closer to having this thing fully planned out, which is a good thing as I generally write faster when I know exactly what my story goals are. Fun stuff all around. Thanks as always for reading!_


	7. Phase 23-7

**Phase 23.7**

The trip to Camp Makishi took only a couple of hours, going most of the way by plane and then the rest by Shibungi's escort. Contrary to my expectations, the place wasn't too bad for a military establishment. Much of it was hidden by the surrounding forest, and the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed what for the location. What's more, the camp was used to getting important visitors, possibly in similar need of protection as us, so there were real guest rooms and actually nice places for guests to eat and spend some leisure time separate from the soldiers being trained there. Inori and I each had our own little room, joined by a door in the middle. It wasn't exactly an Okinawa paradise, but the comforts were a welcome and pleasant surprise.

"So, how long are we going to be here, exactly?" Inori asked while setting down her bags.

"Shibungi didn't say. We just have to wait until his team finds out enough about Da'ath that they can determine if we are in danger or not."

"Are you alright with that, Shu?"

"Well, I'm alright with doing what he thinks is best, but honestly I like the idea less now that we're actually here."

"I want to help, not hide."

"I know."

Silence took over for a moment as I debated in my head whether to ask the question that burned in me all along the way there.

"Say, Inori?"

"Hmm?"

"This may be a strange question, but...are you happy I took you away from Shangri'la?"

She didn't answer right away, but it was obvious she wasn't happy. Maybe she was just tired.

"I am...happy," the reply came slowly. "But...I had accepted my fate there. And I had purpose. I thought I could really help end Da'ath and...help _you_. I never planned on coming back, so now...I just don't know what to do."

"A-ah. Hard to readjust, huh?"

She nodded.

"Well then maybe this is the best thing after all," I offered. "Spending time here should make an easy transition back into the real world."

"If you say so."

It was hard for me to see Inori like that. For so long all I wanted was to be with her, but now that we were together, it wasn't as perfect as I dreamed. Apparently Inori wasn't the only one that needed some time to adjust to reality. Being at the base was inconvenient as promised, but I was beginning to see the possible benefits as well.

After getting settled in, most of our first day at the camp was taken up with the official tour. Personally I found it to be something of a drag, but oddly enough Inori perked up a good bit as we went along. She told me the base reminded her of being back in Funeral Parlor.

"...and up ahead here on the right is the shooting range," said our tour guide.

At that Inori's face lit up with interest.

"Mind if I take a few shots?" She asked, much to the guide's surprise.

She was granted permission, and a small crowd quickly gathered as she borrowed a pistol and took aim at the farthest target on the field. The air rang with the crack of the pistol, bang after bang after bang. Inori emptied an entire clip in seconds, each shot a perfect bullseye. Not a jaw didn't drop to the floor among the onlooking soldiers.

"Hey, now you try!" One of them suggested.

"M-me?" I stammered. "I'm really not as good..."

Inori walked over and held out the pistol to me.

"Please, Shu? For me?"

Now it was my turn to be surprised. But if Inori was going to involve herself in things that way, I _couldn't_ say no. I took the pistol, inserted a fresh magazine, and stepped up to the same target Inori used.

_ "This is ridiculous. I can't hit that thing!"_

Nevertheless everyone was waiting for me now, so I raised the pistol, held my breath for steadiness, closed one eye, and concentrated hard. My finger tensed on the trigger...and strange shades of purple crept in from the corners of my vision.

_ "Apocalypse crystals!?"_

Startled, I relaxed my concentration and the crystals receded. But then I had an idea. I took another breath and then aimed at the target with renewed intensity. This time I didn't react when the crystals appeared over my eye, and instead even willed them to spread in farther. They narrowed down my vision to pinpoint accuracy, like a targeting reticule built right onto my eye.

"For you, Inori."

I squeezed the trigger again and again just as Inori had done, and watched with satisfaction as my bullets made a similar set of holes in the target's bullseye. I kept firing until the pistol clicked dryly, and then held it back with pride. The crystals vanished at my command before I turned around—no one ever saw them.

"'Not as good', he says!" One of the soldiers exclaimed. "I'd like to see better!"

Inori and I were instant celebrities.

The rest of the tour went much less eventfully, but the mood was far lighter after the experience on the shooting range. I could see in Inori's eyes that she was still struggling with getting used to a new lifestyle, a new hand, and no Void Genome all at once, but she pushed hard through the day from that point on and seemed genuinely happy in spite of all her inner trauma. That sort of strength impressed me a great deal, and made me admire her all the more. Goodness knows I didn't have a record of responding so well to such things.

The next few days passed without much word from Shibungi. We did receive a few communications from friends wanting to check in on us, but even those had to be kept to a minimum and handled carefully to make sure Da'ath wouldn't listen in. Other than that we were mostly left to ourselves. We talked about a lot of things—mostly the details of what happened over the last three years that Inori missed from her watch in the tower—but it always felt like there was some forbidden territory in our conversations—topics that we both sensed were there but neither dared to speak of for the sake of the other.

One such thing was our relationship.

I knew I loved Inori, and I had every reason to believe she returned it back to me. We were very close, once. She even gave her life in my place. So if we both shared the same feelings for each other, why weren't we doing anything about it? By our fifth day at Makishi I couldn't stand it anymore. I made some excuse to Inori to get some time alone, pulled a few favors around the camp, and then came back to the rooms just in time for dinner.

"_Tadaima,_" I knocked on the open door. _I'm back!_

Inori peeked at the door from around the corner.

"_Okaeri, _Shu._" Welcome back!_

"What are you wearing to dinner tonight?"

"Hmm? This."

"Not tonight. Wear something nice. I mean—umm—not that you don't already look nice, it's just—"

"I don't have anything nicer."

"Oh, well, check the closet."

"I know what's in my closet."

"Check again? Please."

"Shu? What's going on?"

I didn't know how to reply, so I just nervously rubbed the back of my neck until Inori complied. She was shocked to find a selection of dresses had mysteriously appeared in her closet.

"When...did these get here?"

"You mean they weren't always?" I feigned ignorance.

Inori was visibly puzzled, but she chose a black dress out of the closet and then closed the door on me so she could get changed into it for dinner. I didn't exactly have a suit myself, but I put on my nicest button-up and tie for the evening. Anything more than that and I probably would've died from suffocation anyway. I'd never been more nervous before in my life.

When we were all ready we walked outside where Inori was greeted by her second surprise: a jeep waited to shuttle us to the camp's guest restaurant. At least, it would be a restaurant for us tonight. When we arrived the lights were dim except for over a small, round table lit by two tall candles. The rest of the atmosphere wasn't nearly so formal or romantic, but like the jeep I'd done the best I could under the circumstances. I even got one of the soldiers we impressed earlier in the week to wait on us, even though there was only one choice of dish for the night. Inori didn't know what to make of any of it.

"Shu?" She asked as we ate. "Is this...what people call a 'date'?"

I could feel my cheeks turn red.

"Why, yes...yes, I suppose it is."

"I'm glad," she smiled faintly. "I missed all these feelings from you."

"M-me too."

When the meal was over I got Inori to walk with me to a small lake inside the camp. The sun was just beginning to set when we arrived, casting a warm orange reflection over the rippling water. My big moment had arrived, and I was a wreck.

"Are you alright, Shu? Do we need to go back to the rooms?"

"No, no. I'm fine. Better...than I've ever been, in fact."

She didn't say a word, adding to my stress.

"Say, Inori? Now that you're back and all...no, wrong question. What I mean is, do you—no, that isn't right, either."

Inori grabbed my arm and stopped walking.

"You know, if you want to say something, you can just say it, Shu."

"Well are you sure, 'cuz I'm just afraid that—"

Inori stopped me rambling with a finger to my lips.

"Shu...what is it?"

I took a deep breath and gathered all my courage, and then some.

"I want you to stay with me forever, Inori! For real, this time," I blurted out, referring to something Inori said not long after we met.

Her eyes widened.

"Inori...b-before anything else happens...let's get married."

Inori's face turned the same color as her hair and her big eyes sparkled with tears, but it worried me that she didn't smile.

"Y-you can have time to think about it if you want. I j-just thought—"

"I'm...I'm sorry," she started in a whisper. "I can't!"

Before I could ask why, Inori ran away, crying. I called after her but of course she didn't stop, so then I started running too. Eventually I found her hiding in the ruins of an old hangar, probably from before Lost Christmas_._ Somehow the moment I laid eyes on the place I knew she'd go there—it reminded me of the film club room in Tennouzu High. I approached slowly, initially keeping my distance.

"Inori? Inori, I—whatever you're thinking, it's ok. I know you haven't been back very long and you've already got a lot on your mind. I was just thinking it might be nice if you didn't have to go through all that alone, and...well...I don't know, maybe I did the wrong thing. But can you at least explain to me why you keep saying we can't be together?"

She suppressed the tears just enough to speak.

"It's Da'ath."

"Da'ath? What do they have to do with it?"

"Do you remember what the agent Yuu said? How you don't know how I was...birthed?"

I took a step closer.

"Whatever he said, I don't c—"

"He's right...I'm just a fake. Just a...a _bakemono!_" _Monster._

"Why would you say that?"

She never turned to face me—I think she needed to look away to discuss the subject at all.

"I'm the daughter of two Da'ath test subjects. One of them—my father—had the original DNA used to make the Void Genome. But after going through so many experiments, his DNA was...flawed. He couldn't draw Voids from anyone. If he tried, they would only crystallize. My mother was the only person who could survive his power and actually yield her Void to him. I learned about it while I was in the tower."

I had to admit, I used to wonder about Inori's origins. Fractions of rumors reached my ears over time, but didn't amount to anything conclusive. Honestly I wondered if she even had family at all or if she was just a clone of Mana's DNA. But already such theories were debunked, since she clearly had parents. That sounded like a good thing to me, not something to cry over.

"Is...is that all you learned about them?"

"No, there's more. Because of my father's imperfect DNA, when he and my mother conceived, her womb was crystallized. I was frozen there—unable to be born or even die."

"Then...how _were_ you born?"

"I was _drawn_ out, still frozen in crystal..."

She turned around and looked me square in the eyes.

"...as a _Void_."

My heart jumped in my chest.

_"Inori's a...Void?" _I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

"Da'ath knew it would make me a perfect candidate for Mana's rebirth," she continued, turning back to face the wall. "I hadn't ever really been born, even though my body matured with time, and I had a strong connection with the Apocalypse Virus. That's why they wanted me. But then Gai learned of this, and he broke me out of my crystal in hopes that it would be enough to stop them. He gave me a name and a purpose: to help Funeral Parlor. What he didn't know is that those things aren't enough to really give someone life. At that point Mana could still take over my body if she tried. But...then I met you. I got to fall in love, like a normal person. You gave me the life to overcome Mana. But even with true life, I—I can't escape who I am. I'm barely even human, a freak, a...a _bakemono. _You deserve better than that, Shu."

Part of me felt like crying along with Inori, but I was too stunned at first to do much of anything. It was a lot to take in so suddenly. Inori did look a bit different to my eyes, knowing the truth, but I knew right away that she didn't seem less human to me. Just...different, somehow. Like seeing her for the first time all over again. I walked closer and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. Inori just hung her head, looking down at the ground.

"It threw me for a loop, I won't deny that," I confessed. "But you're still human. And even if you don't agree, well...then I don't care what you are. You were always there for me those years ago no matter how confused I got with the world and how my life fit into all of it. So now it's my turn to do the same for you."

I bravely reached over and gently redirected Inori's gaze by her chin.

"I love you, Inori, and I always will. No matter how you came into the world, right now you're you. And _you_ are the one I want."

"Shu..."

Inori leaned over and hugged me tightly as the tears returned in full force. It was our first time since before the Fourth Apocalypse.

"Stay with me, Shu...forever."

The underlying meaning of her words lit a fire in my heart.

"Is...is that a 'yes'?"

She nodded with her head still on my shoulder and peeped a small 'mhmm' in between tears. Even though she was crying I laughed for joy and stood up, sweeping her into my arms along the way.

"_Ya-ta!_" I shouted, spinning us around. Before long Inori stopped crying and smiled along with me.

"Even if everyone calls you a liar," I started quoting one of Inori's songs.

"Even if they hurt you with heartless words," she continued.

"I'll be on your side," we finished together. Maybe it was a bit silly. Maybe we even realized it. But we didn't care.

It was dark out by then, but no way could we fall asleep after such an emotional evening. Instead we stayed up as long as was allowed in the camp, looking at the stars together and making wishes. I never knew life could be so sweet.

* * *

GC

* * *

In keeping with the precautions to ensure Da'ath couldn't track us down, Inori's and my marriage had to be kept pretty quiet. Without any preparations to speak of we had no reason to consider a long engagement, and both of us agreed that it would be best to take advantage of the current down-time to make sure we were married before something could happen to interrupt our plans. The wedding was set to be conducted in one of Camp Makishi's office buildings, officiated by a local military chaplain, and attended only by my step-mother, Ayase, Tsugumi, Arugo, Yahiro, and Souta. Shibungi couldn't attend for a variety of reasons, but he sent his best regards along with the little group. It was as simple a ceremony as could be, but there was something fitting about that. Inori and I were far from a typical couple that would marry and settle down. Our lives had been nothing but trials so far, and that wasn't likely to change anytime soon. We weren't getting married to escape the world's bigger problems or exchange them for the everyday issues of family life. Instead we wanted to remove the boundaries in our relationship so we could support one another and face those bigger problems head-on. A quiet wedding in a war zone was far more appropriate for that than a big show someplace nice in the city.

Of course, the smallness and simplicity of it all didn't make me any less nervous. During much of the ceremony I was almost in a daze. When the time came, I robotically repeated the vows...and inwardly berated myself for being so bad at such things. I barely heard Inori as she followed the same process. Then we exchanged rings, which were little more elaborate than silver bands, but there was something special about them for decorating both of our only good hands. Then at last came the part we'd been waiting for. All the world faded away as Inori and I wrapped our arms around each other and moved in for a kiss—our first, as far as I remembered. Earlier Inori claimed it would be our second, and that she would explain later. I was overcome with feelings the moment our lips touched. The smell, the taste, the sensation...I thought I might never come back to earth. We separated at the sound of applause from our tiny audience, Inori's face red as could be. But she was also smiling like I'd never seen before.

After the ceremony we spent what time we could with everyone before seeing them off out of the camp to head back home before it got dark. For our part, Inori—now Ouma Inori—and I turned in to the rooms early. Not that we went to sleep early—in fact, we stayed up in bed with each other so long I started to think that perhaps we wouldn't sleep at all. So long as we were awake, we could go on feeling all the things just being together made us feel like never before.

"Say, Inori," I asked at one point, between kisses.

"Hmm?"

"Didn't you say we kissed once before today?"

"Oh, yes, that's right."

Our lips met again before she sat up a bit to finish answering.

"Remember that one night we had together after your injury, before I turned myself over GHQ?"

The topic had never seemed like such light conversation before.

"Yes?"

"After I put you to sleep I kissed you goodbye."

"You did? Couldn't you have done that _before_ putting me to sleep?"

"I suppose," she laughed lightly, laying back down on top of me.

"You know, I didn't get to hear you laugh much before. You've really been holding out on me, haven't you?"

"I don't think I really knew how to laugh. After Gai woke me up life was only very serious. Even when I fell in love with you it was such a serious thing to me. But after last night, and today...you showed me that life can be really happy—so wonderful that all the feelings inside me just have to get out somehow."

We kissed again for at least the hundredth time, and it was every bit as electrifying and wonderful as the first.

"_Arigatou,_ Shu-koi," Inori thanked me passionately. "Hmm. It feels good to call you that."

"You too, Inori-koi."

By unspoken agreement our talk gradually slowed down until we just lay there, clinging to each other, enjoying our companionship in silence. Eventually the dark and quiet made us tired and we fell asleep, wholly satisfied with life, so much so that I even forgot for a while what horrors awaited me on the other side of slumber.

If only that could have stopped them from coming.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Well, FINALLY! I mean, it only took 22 episodes of anime and 22,000 words of fan fiction to get these two together, right? Now that they are, I guess my job as a writer is done—I can quit writing this fanfic now. Calm down, calm down! I'm only joking. So back to business. First of all, I hope everyone likes this chapter even though it's not very Guilty Crown-like. Next time we'll join up with Ayase again, which will bring things back into gear, in that regard. For now though, I'm sure this chapter has caused a few questions, so I'd like to answer them right here and now._

_Q. Did Shu and Inori...?_

_A. Take a wild guess ;)_

_Q. Then why didn't you write about it?_

_A. See that 'T' rating? I'd like to keep it there._

_Q. If Inori's a Void, then why didn't she get sucked into Yuu with all the others?_

_A. Strictly speaking, Inori's not a Void. It just sounded good to say that for dramatic effect, since she was drawn out like one._

_Q. That's crazy! Sure you got that right?_

_A. Inori's origins are revealed in the Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas visual novel, released only in Japanese on the PC. Officially the game is a spinoff and not necessarily canon, but I wanted to incorporate it into my fanfic since it does account for some of the anime's unanswered questions. What you see in this chapter is a highly simplified version of the full story, but the additional details I left out wouldn't really benefit the story I'm telling, so don't worry about them._

_Q. What's up with the 'koi' stuff? Isn't that some kind of fish?_

_A. 'Koi' is also one of the lesser-known name suffixes of Japanese. Most everyone knows about 'san', and anime fanatics generally know of others like 'kun' and 'chan', but 'koi' is not as common knowledge because it refers to someone in a romantic way, like a lover. Love is a pretty private thing in Japanese culture, hence you probably don't hear the word a whole lot. But we did invade on Shu and Inori's privacy, so it made sense to use it._

_Q. I wanted Shu and Ayase to end up together :(_

_A. Well, that's not really a question. But I have to agree that would've been nice, too. Maybe that will happen in a future fanfic of mine that doesn't make any attempt to remain true to Guilty Crown canon._

_Thanks as always for reading!  
_


	8. Phase 23-8

**Phase 23.8**

"Your big sister is _very _angry with you, _Otouto-chan._"

A scene faded into existence before my eyes. A distraught Ouma Mana in child form stood in front of me, arms crossed. We were on the same beach as had become commonplace in my nightmares ever since rescuing Inori. I sat up on the sand and wearily faced the girl. After such a wonderful day with Inori, Mana was the last person I wanted to see or deal with, but she wouldn't let me off so easily.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"What now?"

"I said: I'm _very angry _with you, Shu."

"And I said: what now?"

"Hmph. You just went and married that terrible Inori girl, didn't you."

It slipped my mind how that might upset Mana. Not that I would have done anything differently in my waking life, but I might have prepared myself for the inevitable assault on my mind that was to follow. Of course, Inori and I just spent the most wonderful night of our lives together, and I would have defended the whole world to protect her right then. A lack of preparation wasn't about to soften me into being pushed around by a bad dream.

"Yes, I did marry Inori, and she is the most wonderful person to have ever lived, to me," I challenged. "And you can go on calling her a fake or a copy or whatever you like, but it won't change the fact that Inori is more real than you ever were!"

Mana's eyes glowed a fiery red, reflecting the wrath that smoldered in her soul.

"I _chose _you!" She screamed. "Before you were even born, I chose _you _over everyone else in the world to be my king! I loved you before I even _knew _you! And as you grew older, I only wanted to be with you forever that much more! You were _meant _to be _mine_, not some cheap experiment's!"

"We couldn't do that! You were my _sister_ for crying out loud, Mana!"

"_Baka!" Idiot! _She threw herself down and pounded on the sand with all her might. "That's _why _you and I had to be together, stupid! Our father was a genius—he unlocked the mysteries of the human DNA! Even Triton wasn't nearly good enough compared to that. Only another Ouma would do."

"Is that what it was all about? You really are insane! You think I'm as smart as he was?"

"That's beside the point. You have his blood. You, and only you. You were my only choice, but you constantly rejected me, and now you've also insulted me by marrying some _nothing_ in my place!"

Now, I could take the arguments against me personally. I'd heard them all before. But I had quite enough of the name-calling Inori. Mana may have looked like a little girl, but I set aside that false image of her character in my mind and smacked the deranged creature up one side of her face, then back again on the other.

"Enough!" I roared.

Mana was stunned.

"You don't own me," I said. "You never did, and you certainly don't now. I love Inori. I married Inori. And I'm going to stay with Inori forever. _Not _you. So shut up already!"

The sky darkened and lightning struck in the distance as Mana's fury boiled over into the my surroundings.

"Oh, Shu," her voice echoed from a thousand places. "You don't seem to understand."

The wind picked up, blowing Mana's hair about and adding to her freakish appearance.

"This may be a dream," she said, "but you can still feel pain."

Mana slowly lifted a hand and pointed with one finger, her face totally emotionless aside from her flaming eyes. I braced myself to endure whatever tortures she might unleash upon me. A moment later lightning struck again, and at the same time a crystal spike shot from Mana's finger and pierced my side. Then another spike grew out of the ground beneath me and went straight up my left leg. One by one Mana cut holes through my dream body, which hurt only too realistically. I screamed in anguish, but refused to give in or plead for her to stop.

_"I'll take it all for you, Inori..." _I thought. _"If this is what it takes...so be it."_

As if Mana could read my thoughts, her anger intensified and she screamed again. The world shook from the core and crystals appeared everywhere much as they did on the first Lost Christmas. Eventually they bore into my skull, which finally severed my connection to the dream and woke me up.

It was still dark out, and perfectly quiet, other than the soft breathing of the girl that still lay sleeping in my arms, a contended smile spread across her face. A wave of passion coursed through my veins at the sight, and I wanted to pull Inori closer, though I didn't for fear of waking her up.

_"Should I tell her?" _I wondered. I'd just come to know Inori unlike I'd ever known anyone before. I would tell anyone in the world that I'd trust her with anything. But what about my nightmares of Mana, and my crystal power? We'd just come out of an incredibly trying experience, and at last Inori was happy. Should I really ruin that for her in the name of total transparency?

_"Soon, maybe, but not tonight," _I decided. I loved that blissful sleeping face too much to say anything that would mess it up, now. _"All that matters is that she's safe and happy."_

Still, I couldn't quite shut out my conscience, which thought better of already keeping secrets from my wife on our first night together. Especially once our days at Camp Makishi turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, and still I had torturous nightmares of Mana regularly, and still I never could bring myself to break the sweetness of Inori's and my time together. We explored nature within the camp as the seasons changed, frequented the firing range, raised a few plants to decorate the walkway outside our room, played games, wrote songs for Inori, and whatever else we could think to do together. Our time was filled with laughter and good memories in spite of the military setting. Christmas eventually rolled around as an especially big milestone in our lives. For once there was no great tragedy, no spread of the Apocalypse Virus—just the two of us with the Christmas tree we cut down and decorated with ornaments of our own creation. In all that time we existed in our own little world, a bit too separate and secluded from the rest, perhaps. The most we heard from Shibungi was that he established an official Special Intelligence Division under Japan's new government, affectionately nicknamed the 'Rooks' as a response to GHQ's infamous 'Antibodies'. To the public the Rooks' occupation was simply the prevention of terrorism, but in reality their primary objective was more specifically the exposure and elimination of Da'ath. Such a major operation sounded like progress, but for the time being Inori and I saw no real results. And so we continued onward in our little world, knowing that it couldn't last forever but always enjoying it while it did. Still, I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. Da'ath was being too quiet. They were up to something, and the longer Inori and I sat out on the action, the more it felt like we were setting ourselves up for a very rude awakening.

* * *

GC

* * *

_Shinomiya Ayase_

_(2043 A.D.)_

Tsugumi yawned as she walked into the crowded briefing room and took a seat on the bench beside my wheelchair. As soon as Shibungi created the Special Intelligence Division, or 'Rooks' as he called them, Tsugumi and I jumped at the chance to get involved with taking down Da'ath, but after a few years being completely off-duty we weren't used to the late nights and early mornings. And this morning was especially early. Even some of the harder-looking men and women in the group filed in still a bit bleary-eyed. Personally I could feel everyone's pain, but I was still wide awake and alert. Surely for Shibungi to call us all in like this required some special development. The possibility of finally having a lead on Da'ath got my heart pumping fast and my head ready for action.

"_Ohayo,_ Aya-nee," Tsugumi groaned.

"My, my, you're sounding especially chipper this morning," I teased.

Before she could reply Shibungi entered the room, and all who were able stood up from their benches out of respect. He greeted everyone good morning and nodded, at which point everyone sat back down.

"I apologize for the early start to the day," Shibungi began, slowly pacing back in forth in front of a giant screen at the end of the room, "however I truly felt that this could not wait any longer than necessary. For the past few months, you have all labored hard to do what many would consider an impossible task: to track, to locate, to learn of something completely invisible. Where does one even begin such a thing? Yet against all reason we did, and at long last, today I am pleased to confirm what you may have already suspected: the Rooks have finally found their first lead on Da'ath."

There was a visible shift in attentiveness from the tired rows of Rook agents.

"I repeat my earlier question: how does one begin to track something that is invisible? Over time, you have found your own answer: you begin with how it manifests itself among the visible. Invisible wind may go mostly ignored, but when sought out carefully it can be found almost anywhere. So it is with Da'ath. And so we have rightly sought to train our eyes and ears to detect Da'ath's subtle activities in the world. Yet in all of this, we neglected to thoroughly examine a...more obvious solution. One which only a short time ago was right under our noses."

Shibungi pressed a button on a tiny remote in his hand, and the screen behind him switched to a scene from a security camera. It was a still shot of last year's inauguration party. The frame zoomed in once, then twice, and came to focus on Yan Daryl as he looked over his shoulder, sneaking around the crowd. A profile image and detailed statistics on Daryl appeared beside the frozen recording.

"Yan Daryl," Shibungi repeated the information on display, "age: approximately 20 years. Height: roughly 1.8 meters. Weight: approximately 68 kilograms. Blonde, last seen with light facial hair. Former lieutenant and Endlave pilot for GHQ. Frequently displays a nasty temper and is prone to violence. And," he stopped pacing, "we believe Da'ath picked him up after the fall of GHQ. In the event of the inaugural celebration pictured here, Yan provided falsified information to illegally participate in the Endlave march preceding the festivities. From there we now have evidence he possessed a variety of Da'ath-supplied weapons ranging from unusual poisons to ballistic knives hidden on his person, and he was likely spying on high-profile attendees. At the time I myself was an obvious target, but based on other recent information, Ouma Shu may have been as well. Fortunately, Yan was distracted from his mission by our own Sendo Tsugumi and Shinomiya Ayase, along with Tsukishima Arugo, a member of my personal security force. After this event Yan vanished, possibly retained by Da'ath to wait things out until his trail ran cold. However, a few weeks ago a hooded man of similar profile was caught on surveillance cameras around the city. Based on his brands of clothing and the model of communication device he possessed, we were able to obtain commercial records containing the same false information supplied for the Endlave march."

At Shibungi's command, the big screen changed to show a dark frame from the city surveillance camera, as well as highlights of receipts from multiple stores containing Daryl's fake name, address, and other identifiable information.

"You will notice these records date back to last year," Shibungi continued. "We assume that by now Yan has taken on a new alias and this information is obsolete, but it does confirm his identity in this case."

He paused, and the screen filled with a full compilation of all the data we had on Daryl.

"That brings us to today. Yan Daryl is a tremendous opportunity for us to gain some key intel on Da'ath, such as their location and current objectives. As he is already a public suspect we easily have the due cause legally necessary to bring him in for interrogation. The data you see on the screen will be available to all of you as you have need of it. Your mission is to track down the suspect and bring him in using any and all resources at your disposal. We've found the key, now let us see if it will open some doors. That is all. You are dismissed."

I saw a few fist-pumps among the Rooks as everyone stood up and started filing out of the briefing room. They all moved with much more energy than when they came in, even Tsugumi.

"Well, 'bout time!" She smiled, hands on her hips. "Those Da'ath guys have been outrunning us for way too long."

"And I suppose you're glad it's Daryl we're after?"

"E-eh? Just because he's got a crush on me doesn't mean I like the creep. Well, I need to get to my station. Catch you later!"

"Oh, right. Later, Tsugumi."

It was with selfish melancholy that I watched Tsugumi hurry out the door. She fit in with the Rooks much better than me. She was even popular for her hacking skills and quirky personality. Me, I was just an Endlave pilot, and Endlaves weren't in high demand with Da'ath still hiding in the shadows. It wasn't that I got treated like a special case because of my disability—I made sure of that, personally—my skills just didn't land me in the spotlight very often like Tsugumi's did for her. My daily occupation was processing, sorting through all the information dug up by the hackers and sending each piece to its respective specialist. It was an important task and one I performed gladly, but it wasn't what I hoped for when I first heard about the Rooks being formed. Being a part of the Special Intelligence Division just didn't bring with it the same sense of companionship and freedom as being a part of Funeral Parlor. It was more of a job than a lifestyle. Still, I tried to maintain my focus. If I wanted some Endlave action, then the best thing for me to do was help expose Da'ath in whatever way I could, large or small.

The team worked late into the evening, but based on the information I processed we didn't seem to be any closer to actually finding Daryl. A virtual net was spread over the country so that the next time Daryl did much of anything we'd know it, but our methods presumed upon a number of factors as of yet unaccounted for. With Da'ath backing him up, Daryl could still slip between our fingers with a little effort.

The sun was already setting when Tsugumi and I finally got to leave the Rooks' headquarters and go home for the night. The two of us shared an apartment close by, where we were on-call at all times. Even though we were never called upon on this particular night Tsugumi still worked at her computer from the moment she got in the door.

"I made some dinner if you're hungry, Tsugumi. Tsugumi? Helloooo!"

"One moment, please!" She didn't turn around from her desk.

"It'll get cold."

"Yeah, so will Daryl's trail if he shows up when I'm not watching!"

"Huh?"

I leaned around Tsugumi and saw a couple dozen surveillance camera feeds from all over the city on her computer.

"It was at night when Daryl first showed up on the cameras a few weeks ago, right? So someone's got to watch."

"That's what night shifts are for, Tsugumi. There's always people watching."

"Well, one more set of eyes couldn't hurt."

"If you stay there all night you're going to be sorry when you have to get up early tomorrow. Come on, if he hasn't shown up yet, the next 15 minutes won't make a difference."

"Aha!"

"What? What? Did you see something?"

"Nope! I just had an idea: Fyu-neru can watch for me!"

Tsugumi rushed into the other room and came back with the robot in her arms.

"Stay here and let me know if you see anyone on the screen, ok? _Anyone_."

Fyu-neru nodded and turned to intently watch the screen in Tsugumi's place while she and I ate a late dinner.

"Ah, finally a moment to relax," I commented.

It wasn't 15 minutes before Fyu-neru started making noise and pointing at the screen. Tsugumi and I looked at each other and simultaneously hurried back from the table to see what he found.

"What is it? What do you see?" Tsugumi asked.

Fyu-neru reached up and touched one particular feed, expanding it to fill the whole display.

"E-eh? That's the street right outside!"

"Tsugumi, look," I pointed.

A figure was at the edge of the screen and walking out of view. Fyu-neru adjusted the camera angle and zoomed in. It was hard to see by the street lights alone, but there was definitely a hooded man in the alley. He discretely took out a communication device from his pocket, unfolded it, and started messing with the holographic screen.

"Can this camera listen in on him?" I asked.

"No, but Fyu-neru can! Come on!"

We quickly left our apartment and took the elevator to the roof. There I left my wheelchair and crawled to the edge of the building where I could just peek over and see the hooded man below. Tsugumi plugged a set of headphones into Fyu-neru and handed one end to me. The robot directed his arms like antennas to focus amplifying just the words of the suspect. He was speaking to someone over the device in his hands.

"...you're more desperate than I thought," he was saying when we broke in on the conversation. "Tch, I'll do what I want. … Shinjiku? Why would I want to go there? … You're serious? What time? … You trying to kill me? I've gotta sleep sometime too, you know. … I didn't say I wouldn't do it, but you better make good on your promise after this. After tonight I'm through playing messenger-boy—_through_. Find someone else to be your proxy. I just want an Endlave—the _best_. … Good. I look forward to it."

We watched as the hooded man tucked away the device and resumed walking through the alleys, headed in the direction of Shinjiku Ward. I grabbed Tsugumi's shoulder to get her attention.

"We're following him," I whispered. "Now."

It wouldn't be easy for me to track Daryl from a wheelchair, but I refused to let that stop me. This was my chance to do something big for the Rooks. From the sound of it we wouldn't get another opportunity if we missed him tonight, so I threw all objections to the wind and prepared myself to stay up all night and endure whatever I must to bring Yan Daryl in for questioning.

Tsugumi opened a communication device of her own and started a search for something on the screen.

"I can get his device ID through the short-range wireless," she explained. "After that I should be able to pinpoint him on a map wherever he goes."

"Won't he be able to tell if he's being tracked? What if Da'ath's done something with his communicator to alert him of that sort of thing? We should rely on sight as much as possible, just to be safe."

"Aye aye."

Daryl was getting away from us fast, so we hurried back down to our apartment, got dressed in our black Rook uniforms, grabbed some equipment, and then split up outside. I would cover the ground while Tsugumi and Fyu-neru kept to the rooftops. Each of us wore a headset that provided an infrared lens over one eye in addition to the standard communication features. Through it we could see in the dark and also the beam of a special infrared flashlight that would act as a flare for Tsugumi and I to keep track of each other's location without giving it away to anyone else.

"First we get to Shinjiku Ward," I said into my headset. "Then we can check up on Daryl's location just long enough to know where to head."

"Roger that."

I didn't often wheel myself around such long distances, but tonight the trek barely crossed my mind. I was more focused on beating Tsugumi to Shinjiku. For several minutes I rolled myself along through the shadows, ignoring all the odd looks I got from the even odder sorts of people that were still out and about so late at night. They could see my uniform, that I was part of the Special Intelligence Division, and nobody dared mess with me because of it. Even without anything slowing me down though, Tsugumi got to the Ward first. Through my infrared lens I saw her flashlight beaming from a rooftop a couple blocks away. I opened up my flashlight in response.

"What's your status?" I asked.

"Got a visual on the subject. He's not moving. I think he's waiting for someone."

"Stay out of sight, I'm on my way."

The flashlight shut off and I changed my direction to head towards the building it had come from. I slowed down when I got a bit closer, then made a wide circle around the alley where I knew Daryl would be until I found a secluded place to hide. I took a high-zoom camera from my wheelchair and focused in on Daryl as he leaned against the brick wall, waiting quietly.

"In position," I told Tsugumi. "Ready for Fyu-neru to feed audio to my camera."

"Roger, Aya-nee."

"You got the tranquilizer gun ready?"

"I'll pop him one if he so much as sneezes."

"Excellent. I can't believe it, we've got him, Tsugumi!"

"Looks like the area is fenced in at the end of the alley. Unless the door's unlocked, the only way he can head is towards you."

"I'm ready."

"Standing by."

Nothing happened for at least an hour. Daryl barely even shifted his position the whole time. For a while I wondered if maybe he fell asleep still standing—it was very late into the night. I might have dozed off myself, if not for my heart pounding so hard. Then at last something happened.

"Tsugumi, you there?"

"Barely," she yawned.

"Someone else is walking up to Daryl."

"I see him. He...he...is that—no..."

I was just about to ask what the problem was when the second man turned around to speak to Daryl and I caught a glimpse of his face. In shock I inhaled sharply and my lungs stopped. This new subject was tall, lean, had striking cyan-blue hair, eyes to match...and the face of Tsutsugami Gai, founder of Funeral Parlor and later leader of GHQ, although that disingenuously.

"Tsugumi, can you see the man Daryl is speaking with?"

"Yes! He looks an awful lot like Gai, doesn't he?"

"For once I wish you didn't agree with me. What's going on?"

"Shh! Maybe if we listen we can find out!"

"I haven't heard anything, have you?"

"No, because _someone's _been talking."

"Sorry."

But as we watched and waited, we never did hear any words exchanged between the two mysterious men. Daryl produced a package of some sort and handed it to his accomplice, who gave Daryl a thick envelope in return, then they nodded to one another and the blue-haired man vanished into thin air.

"Aya-nee!"

"I saw it! I saw it!"

"Where'd he go?"

"Where all Da'ath agents go: somewhere _we_ don't know."

"You're soooo helpful, Ay—"

"Hold on, Daryl's leaving. I'm going after him."

"You're what?"

I quickly put away the camera equipment and then wheeled out into the open, headed straight for Daryl. He must have recognized me, but that only shocked him more than if I'd been a random stranger and gave me a moment to catch up while he wondered what to do.

"Yan Daryl!" I shouted, hoping to scare him by nature of the fact that I knew his identity.

He cursed, turned the other way, and tried to run off. But I already had momentum on my side, and before long I crashed right into Daryl, knocking him into a faceplant on the ground. I dumped myself out of the wheelchair on top of him and struggled to restrain his hands in a pair of cuffs I'd clipped onto my belt, but he wriggled around hard enough to break free of my grasp before both hands were locked in. I fell to the ground as he leaped back onto his feet, but thinking fast I took hold of the wheelchair and shoved it in his direction. He got tripped up again, and this time when he fell his hood blew back, confirming his identity once and for all.

_Foom!_

A quiet, dull blast from Tsugumi's tranquilizer gun echoed in the streets. A moment later Daryl had a dart sticking out of his shoulder, and his movements slowed significantly. I managed to crawl over, pull myself over his back again, and finally finish cuffing his hands.

"Subject...is...apprehended," I confirmed into my headset, checking the cuffs for tightness. "Call the Rooks, Tsugumi: we've got a little pickup for them."

* * *

_Author's notes: Wow, this fanfic is just about to 1,000 views already! Thank you all so much! I hope this chapter didn't feel too rushed to anyone. I could have easily extended events a bit, but I had to push some content into Phase 23.9 as it is, and I still broke 4,000 words. Obviously things are mounting up, so there's a lot to cover! At this point I'd estimate there are three chapters left to go, but I am infamously bad at guessing that stuff, so who knows what will happen. Stay tuned!_


	9. Phase 23-9

**Phase 23.9**

I waited outside the interrogation room with bated breath. Every few minutes I'd catch my head falling, eyes closing, and then jolt back awake. I hadn't slept at all the past night. After apprehending Daryl the other Rooks showed up and towed him away in the back of a truck where he could be closely watched all the way back to headquarters. They were a bit surprised to see that I was the one that took him down, even if I did have a lot of assistance from Tsugumi. My reputation definitely raised a few notches, then. Ever since, I'd been back at headquarters, waiting as the team woke Daryl up and started questioning him. Of course I wanted to know what he could tell us about Da'ath, but what kept me awake was wondering about the other man he spoke to, the blue-haired Gai. Was it really him I saw? Yes, Tsugumi saw it, too. But he was still different, somehow. I knew he could never be the Gai I loved even if it was him at all, but because my heart was invested at one point in time, I still wanted to understand the truth about him.

As dawn approached outside Shibungi finally came out of the room and stopped before me, a hand on his chin, expression puzzled.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"We aren't certain. He spoke too easily. Perhaps we finally got some of the answers we've been looking for, perhaps a lot of lies, or worse, a lot of bait to lure us into some kind of trap. I will need to make a proper report on this and bring it to the team for investigation, to be sure—we'll consider his information false unless proven true."

"I'm ready," I tried to salute, but clumsily knocked myself in the head in the process.

"No, you're not," Shibungi corrected. "You've done enough for one night, Ayase. Go home and get some rest, and don't return for the rest of the day until after normal lunch hours. That's an order."

"Yes s—"

"You're too late!" Daryl's voice emanated through the interrogation room walls. "The assault on Camp Makishi will have already begun by now!"

Maniacal laughter followed. I expected Shibungi to respond with some urgency, but instead he retained his thoughtful pose and wondered aloud:

"Openly divulging such information to the enemy...only you, Tsutsugami Gai."

He then reached up to one ear and pressed a button on a device he was wearing.

"This is Shibungi. Mobilize the defense force for Camp Makishi, on the double. Your priority is to protect Ouma Shu and Ouma Inori. Expect heavy resistance from armed terrorists. This is a Code Three operation, I repeat: a Code Three operation. This will be our first chance to fight Da'ath face-to-face—let's make it count."

He lowered his hand and looked back at me.

"Excuse me, Ayase. If Yan even knows of Camp Makishi then he makes no idle threat. It would seem I have some business to attend to...and that our interrogations are not yet finished."

He departed, leaving me feeling very uncertain of what to do.

_ "I'm supposed to go home and take a nap after that?"_

I seriously considered disobeying and heading straight for my station, but between Shibungi's insistence and my own fear that I'd make major errors if I tried to work in my current state of mind, I gritted my teeth and went home. Even though there was no possible way I could help in the interrogation up in the capital or get in an Endlave and down to Makishi in time to fight, I always hated accepting my own limitations.

_ "You've got me for now, but I'm going to bring you down one day, Da'ath. You just mark my words."_

* * *

GC

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

The soft tones of a piano reached my ears as I wandered about Camp Makishi, looking for Inori. I had an especially rough night with Mana, and so I slept in quite a bit once the nightmares finally subsided. Apparently Inori got up alone and just left me to wake up on my own schedule.

The music got louder as I stepped inside the empty dinner hall, where soldiers would often entertain each other with music. Not when they were training or on duty, though—this had to be someone else playing. I drew nearer and saw Inori sitting at the piano, playing and softly singing one of the songs we wrote together. I stood silently in the doorway and waited until she was finished to make my presence known. Then I clapped, and she turned around, surprised.

"I didn't know you could play."

"Only a little."

"No," I said, walking over and taking Inori into my arms, "you were wonderful."

Her cheeks turned slightly red. We leaned in towards each other, but just before our lips met, a loud noise shook the entire camp. Sirens followed, coupled with shouts and gunfire from several directions.

"Shu!" Terror filled Inori's eyes.

"Stay close! And get down!"

We ducked under a table and I covered Inori. And while I didn't say anything about it, I also produced a crystal shield across my back, thin enough that it wouldn't be noticeable through my clothes.

"Shu? What's going on?"

"I don't know. Just hold on to me. It will be alright."

I took her false hand in mine and there we waited, listening to the horrific sounds of war which overtook the camp so suddenly. A few stray shots pierced holes in the dining hall walls, but none reached Inori or me. It seemed an eternity, but eventually the noise outside died down just as quickly as it had begun. Too quickly.

"Shu? Is it—"

"Shh!"

I cautiously backed up and peeked my head over the table. All was still. A rotten, smoky scent filled the air.

"I think we're—"

My sentence was interrupted by all the windows around the dining hall bursting in at once, followed by soldiers in black uniforms and cloth masks with strange designs. They pointed their weapons at me and waited while the tallest one—a man with long, cyan hair—slowly approached with his hands folded calmly behind his back. I didn't raise my hands in surrender, but I also didn't dare make any sudden moves. I heard Inori trying to get up behind me.

"Stay down, Inori!"

She didn't listen, and clung to my side. Thankfully the terrorists held their fire.

"Ouma Shu-kun," the tall man said, his voice oddly familiar. "For how long did you think you could hide yourself?"

I made no response.

"The power of Cocytus calls to us," he continued. "Day and night we hear its anguished cry. You've done well in awakening its power, but that is not enough. The day of the Final Apocalypse draws nigh, yet still there is so much to be done—so much you need to learn. But for now..."

He raised a hand and the soldiers redirected their aim.

"...the execution of your partner will do. Yuzuriha Inori—or is it Ouma Inori, now? No matter. She has surrendered Cocytus to you and therefore we have no further use for her."

"You will _not_ touch Inori." It wasn't a demand, it was a statement of a fact made real by sheer force of will.

"Hmph," was all the blue-haired man had to say. He lowered his hand and left it pointing right at Inori. She bravely refused to move, though I desperately wished she would. A moment later the terrorists opened fire, sending bullets Inori's way from several directions.

"Hyyaaaa!" I shouted, pouring all of my strength into manifesting crystals from my hands. Each spike I produced shot out and stopped a bullet in mid air, fast creating a complicated web of spikes that was so heavy I had to allow the crystals to crawl up to my elbows for support. Inori covered her mouth and watched in shock.

Eventually the terrorists realized they weren't going to get any shots through and stopped firing. I let all the crystals shatter in their place, dropping the bullets to the floor along with them. From there I immediately extended a spike from each arm to be wielded like a sword and started swinging, shouting again the whole while. I jabbed the two closest soldiers in their necks and then swung to knock the others' weapons from their hands, since they were too far away for me to do more damage right away. The tall man had no weapon to begin with, but he demonstrated an incredible amount of agility in dodging my attacks as I moved forward. His reactions were inhumanly fast. I stabbed, and he butterfly-kicked right over the spike and out of the way, sending a heavy boot into my face along the way. Blood gushed from my nostrils, but I ignored it and charged forward again, this time swinging both spikes in an X to prevent him from pulling the same stunt twice. Not perturbed, my blue-haired opponent did a handspring backwards onto a table behind him and leaped back onto his feet, holding up the table to block my attack just in the nick of time. The spikes left a dent but shattered on the impact, so I broke them off and produced two more. The terrorist leader tried to use the table as a battering ram and shove me over, but I anchored my feet into the ground with more crystals and didn't budge under his incredible strength. I managed to push forward, leaping from my crystal foundation, but rather than knock him over the conflicting forces on the table just knocked it off to the side. He was defenseless. I quickly swung for the man's head, but to my surprise he dematerialized into thin air. My arm continued its motion, however, and the spike swung around behind me and nicked the man across the face as he came back into form. I turned around to see what damage I'd done just in time to watch the cloth mask, now torn in half, fall to the ground, revealing the terrorist's face. I froze in position, stunned.

"Gai?" I stared in disbelief.

The blue-haired Gai scowled back at me and promptly punched me in the gut, then the chin, then again in the head. I fell hard to the ground, unable to move. My vision faded fast. At the other end of the room I saw that Inori had retrieved one of the other terrorist's rifles and started firing, but she only took down one man before another yanked the weapon from her grasp and knocked it straight into her face.

"I...nori..." I reached out towards her with the little strength left in me just before I took another blow to the head, and all the world went black.

* * *

GC

* * *

I first came back to while laying on a cold, hard, and slightly wet surface. My vision was blurry, and I couldn't think straight, much less move. A barred door closed in front of me with a clang, followed by several electronic beeps. Someone in a set of boots and a trench coat stood outside. Mustering all my strength I rolled my head back just enough to see a blur of cyan at the top of the person before me.

_"Gai..."_

Someone else in a white lab coat approached.

"Izanagi-sama! The tests are complete. Shall we—"

"He's not strong enough yet. However, he seems easily provoked when his partner is threatened. Put her in the cell across from him."

"With all due respect Izanagi-sama, are you certain that is wise?"

"I fought him myself. He'll do just fine."

The two walked off, still talking, and before long I could fight unconsciousness no more and drifted back into an unnatural slumber.

My eyes shot open again some time later. I had no idea what day it was, what time it was, or where I was, and I only had foggy memories of waking up earlier. But at least this time I was alert, and I knew I'd been drugged before. That meant two things to me: I was a captive, and I needed to escape. Instead of laying on the floor, I was now sitting on an uncomfortable plank of wood pretending to be a bench, and my hands were chained to the wall behind my back. I leaned forward as far as I could to see outside the bars of my tiny cement cell, but as expected nothing helpful drew my eye. However, at the sound of my clanking chains there was a bit of motion across from me. A face looked up from the shadows of the opposite cell.

"Inori!"

"Shu!"

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm...fine."

There was a large bruise across one side of her face. I supposed my body had similar marks—it certainly hurt in enough places.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked.

She shook her head, then replied with a question of her own.

"Do you think we're at Da'ath?"

"I...I think so. I saw Gai—at least, it looked like him—talking with a whitecoat outside my cell. I can't remember what they were saying, though. I'm pretty sure we were drugged."

"What are we going to do, Shu?"

I gritted my teeth and focused my thoughts on the chains around my wrists. A few seconds later I felt crystals forming, starting inside the handcuffs and pushing outward until the thick metal bent enough for me to withdraw the crystals and slip my hands out. Then I got to work on the cell. Inori watched in disbelief as I took hold of two iron bars and crystals formed around my hands and up the door.

"Shu? W-what is that?"

I pulled back with all my might and the crystals snapped a few bars right off the door, leaving a big enough space for me to crawl through.

"A way out."

Inori's expression saddened as I repeated the process on her cell.

"Is this...because I took your Guilty Crown?" she asked. "Is that Mana's power?"

I paused before ripping her cell open.

"How'd you know?"

"I once fought GHQ using the same abilities that you have, now. I didn't want you to see because I was afraid you'd think I was a monster."

I tore the bars off and threw them down on the floor, then climbed in beside Inori and worked on her chains.

"I knew you were blind before because of the trade, but somehow it never occurred to me that you'd get Mana too. Shu, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. What you did wasn't perfect, but we wouldn't be together now if not for you trading our fates. I wouldn't have survived Shangri-la, and you wouldn't have survived Mana. It's better this way. Don't worry: Mana can't do anything to me."

The chains broke off of Inori's hands and she immediately embraced me. I could feel her heart beating hard in her chest.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner," I stroked her silky hair with my real hand, "you were just so happy when we got married, I didn't want to ruin everything for you. And before that, well...I suppose I was a little bit worried you wouldn't want to marry me if you knew I had Mana."

Inori grabbed my face to stop me talking and kissed me on the lips.

"I want to be with you always, Shu! No matter what's inside you."

We embraced again.

"Let's go home, Inori."

"Do you know the way out?"

"No, but I'll break through anything and anyone that tries to stop us from getting out—for your sake, and for everyone back home. If this really is Da'ath's place, all we have to do to find them is see where we are when we get outside. If we can report that to Shibungi, Da'ath's whole operation is as good as finished."

Inori nodded.

"You ready?"

Another nod.

"Ok. Then let's go!"

We headed down the hall and I used crystals to break the lock and hinges on the door at the end. It took both of us pushing to break it free, but then it creaked, slid a bit, and slammed downward—right on top of a guard who'd been standing on the other side. Inori and I stumbled forward into the next room, a fairly large area with several extremely shocked and puzzled armed guardsmen.

"They've escaped!" One of them yelled, raising his rifle.

The others in the room responded in kind, putting Inori and I at gunpoint a dozen or so times over. Inori thought fast and swiped up the fallen guard's rifle while I prepped a spike from each arm. A moment later the room was a bed of chaos. Bullets flew everywhere as guards and Inori fired and dodged one another's shots. I ran around cutting shells out of the air before they could hit me and following up with a spike through the attacker. With one guard still impaled on a spike I spun around and used his bulletproof armor as a shield for myself before breaking off the spike and shoving the body into another guard to knock him down. I smashed his fallen weapon but decided to let him live unless he tried to fight further. The others were not so lucky—my moves had drawn enough attention away from Inori that she was able to land a hit on three of them before they had a chance to react. The remaining three men immediately turned and opened fire on her, but she rolled off to one side and nimbly popped back up onto her feet to return fire, forcing them to stop and dodge. Only that meant they moved closer to me, so I swept one's feet out from under him with a thick spike on my left hand and then blocked with a spike on my right as another guard's gun came down on me like a club. Inori ran up and beat him in the back of the head with her rifle while our weapons were still locked, and then I spun around to let him fall and simultaneously jabbed one of my spikes out behind me, running the final guard through without even looking. The fight was finished, Inori and I standing back-to-back, the decisive victors. She traded her empty rifle for another while I swiped a key card from one of the guards and opened a new door with it. Thankfully no one awaited us on the other side—just an empty hallway of more doors to choose from. We tore through the hallway as fast as our legs would carry us, hand in hand to make sure we'd never be separated.

"Umm, this way," I guessed, turning us off into another hall. The door at the end of the row looked different than the others, so I thought perhaps it would be a way out. Instead, we barged straight through to find ourselves in the facility's Endlave garage—and many of the Endlaves were active.

"What the—!?" One pilot's voice echoed over his loudspeaker.

"Sorry, wrong way."

"Shu!?"

"Hang on, Inori!"

I took her up in my right arm and focused hard on my left to produce the longest crystal spike I'd made yet. To my relief, I succeeded to make it sturdy enough not to fall apart from its own weight, and thus inspired I charged forwards at the Endlaves as they took aim. I swung as hard as I could, and the crystal sliced through the first machine like butter. The second was too far away to be caught in the destruction, however, and started raining fire upon Inori and I. I dropped the spike in favor of creating a shield, and simultaneously anchored my left foot to the ground so I could jump off the crystal foundation and dodge behind another active Endlave. As I hoped, the first pilot kept firing at me as I ran, and eventually started shooting his ally by mistake.

"What are you doing, you idiot!?" The pilot cried.

Unfortunately for him, the Endlave took too much damage and shut down before the bullets stopped flying. But by now my presence in the garage was well known, and other Endlaves were gathering to join the hunt too—though a bit more judiciously than their colleague. My mind seemed to explode with activity as I took advantage of the damaged Endlave by launching myself into the air with a rising pillar of crystals under my feet and then coming back down on it with another long spike between my hands. The Endlave split in half with enough force to send the broken pieces flying into other Endlaves, which caused all three machines to explode on the spot. The blast knocked Inori and me over, but she had more time to react than I did and performed a somersault, finishing on one knee in perfect position to fire on the Endlave pilot that took down his partner. With a few shots to the eyes the machine malfunctioned, and after several more to the head, it too shut down. By then I was back on my feet, so I swept Inori back into my arms and ran forward into the remaining rows of Endlaves, towards a funicular at the end of the garage.

"Grraaaaa!"

My long spike came back, and I sliced through any Endlave that got in my way, never even turning to watch it fall down and trip up the others in its path. When we reached the elevator I let go of Inori, who took my keycard and started the giant lift while I produced another shield, large and thick enough to cover much of the funicular. The crystals slowly chipped and cracked as hundreds of bullets tested their resilience, and we just barely pulled up and out of the Endlave's firing range before the entire shield shattered.

"Whew," I sagged to the floor.

"Shu, you're bleeding!" Inori rushed over and checked my neck and left hand.

"Only a little. I got grazed a couple times, that's all."

"We're not out of this yet. Please Shu, be more careful."

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

She shook her head.

"Then these mean nothing to me. I'd have taken the bullets too, to get you home. I didn't rescue you from that tower just so you could get shot by Da'ath here. Maybe it sounds like I'm being foolish, but it's how I feel. I hated myself for not being able to protect you before. I won't let it happen this time. I won't!"

The funicular came to a halt and we stood up only to face a giant Endlave unlike anything I'd ever seen before. It was twice as wide and significantly taller than the ones we fought a moment ago, and to further set it apart it was entirely purple, whereas the others were white. The machine activated and loudly stomped into position.

"Going somewhere?" The pilot taunted us.

Inori shot at the Endlave's head, but the bullets ricocheted without noticeable damage. The pilot stepped forward. I produced a spike and threw it like a spear, but it simply shattered on impact. Another step towards us, this time accompanied by viscous laughter. One of the machine's arms raised and started firing. I dove in front of Inori and produced a shield, but this Endlave's bullets were stronger than the others, and the crystals were torn to shreds in seconds. Inori and I ran behind a stack of crates, but before long those were destroyed as well.

"Come on, stop hiding, you little rats!"

With one more shot the topmost crate was toppled, leaving Inori and I completely exposed. The Endlave's other arm went up and promptly fired a huge missile straight for us.

"Nooo!" I screamed, grounding my feet with crystals.

I leaned forward and poured all my energy at the missile. Crystals emanated from both hands and joined in the middle to form a solid pillar which continued forwards until it encased the huge projectile and stopped it in midair. I was so shocked to see it work that for a moment I didn't know what else to do, but then I spun around and released the crystals, hurling the missile back at its source. It exploded on the giant Endlave, breaking off the machine's missile arm without shutting it down entirely.

"Shu! Go for the arm!" Inori ordered before running away from me, firing her rifle all the way.

I hated how the diversion put Inori at risk, but it worked, and motivated me to end the fight quickly before she could be hurt. I ran forward and crystals grew under my feet like a staircase until I was eye level with the big Endlave. With both hands together I encased the fallen arm in crystal and then swung it over my head to crush the Endlave with its own body—the only thing strong enough to deal significant damage. It stumbled back, arm protruding from the front, and eventually fell against the wall before totally exploding. Inori and I were blackened a bit from the resulting debris, but neither one of us had any serious injuries. What's more, the explosion conveniently blew a hole in the wall, revealing a strange subterranean passage outside. We still had a long way to go to get home, that much was for certain, but the significance of what just transpired didn't escape us—not by a long shot. We'd just beat Da'ath at their own game, and now we were finally free.

* * *

_Author's notes: I tell ya, there's just no good way to split up the rest of this story. So get used to the abrupt endings, I guess. Of course, there's only a few chapters left to go. Last time I guessed there would be three more chapters **including** this one, but I actually might give Ayase one more full chapter to wrap up her sidestory with Daryl, so that would mean three more **after** this one instead. Either way, we're getting there! _

_As of today it's been exactly 3 weeks since I started this fanfic, and already it's got 1,100+ views! That's pretty amazing to me, since this is my first fanfic and all. This whole experience has been awesome and it's become such a part of my routine that part of me doesn't really believe it will be over in another week or two, but all good things must come to an end, and honestly this is one thing that will be very satisfying to wrap up. Thanks for sticking with me this far, but don't tune out now!_


	10. Phase 23-10

**Phase 23.10**

The world immediately outside the Da'ath facility was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Entire shantytowns occupied the underground side of whatever city we were in, populated by the local poor and homeless. Of course they were intrigued and worried by the explosion that broke us free, and as they gathered around to investigate Inori and I quickly discovered that we couldn't communicate with the people: they only spoke Chinese. Through gestures and the rough commonalities in our languages we got across that we wanted to go up to the city, and they showed us the way to an abandoned subway station whose stairs still led right up into the open. Though the tall buildings and crowded streets were reminiscent of the place I called home, it was certainly no city I personally recognized.

"Shu? Is _all _this in Chinese?" Inori pointed at the many signs around us.

"A-ah...sure looks that way."

We wandered through the strange city—at least it felt that way to us—unsure of what to do. Every unusual noise on the street startled us. It felt vulnerable just to be out in the sun.

_"We're being watched..."_

After some time we finally came across a map along the side of the street.

"Shang...hai," I read slowly. "Shanghai? So..._they _have been hiding in underground _China _this whole time?"

"It's smart, really. _They_ do their work in Japan and come here. Our country can't find them, and this country doesn't have any reason to. Not that they know of, at least."

"Right. They're as much a threat to China as to Japan and everywhere else. 'Apocalypse' doesn't just mean one country."

Inori nodded in agreement. As her head dipped down, I noticed someone standing a short distance behind her, looking over at us.

"Come on, Inori."

I set the pace a bit briskly as we resumed walking.

"Where are we going?"

"I thought we might—er—stop in...here?"

I took Inori's hand and pulled her around a corner into a different direction, trying to act nonchalant.

"This is just an alley. Shu? Is everything alright?"

"Shh! Just keep moving."

Once we'd made it a ways into the alley, I reached up with my false hand as if to scratch an itch on my head. But secretly I was using the metal surface as a mirror to scan the area behind me. Sure enough, the same man as before was following us from a safe distance.

"Run, Inori!"

At my command we broke away together, still holding hands.

"Over there!" the man behind us shouted. "That's them!"

From the alley we came back into a busy street filled with people walking, biking, and running market stands. On the one hand they provided us with some cover, but on the other they slowed us down tremendously. I glanced over my shoulder and noticed that the one man had been joined by three or four others.

"Excuse me! Pardon me!"

Inori and I shoved through as fast as we could without drawing more attention than necessary.

_"__Shu!" _rang a voice in my head.

"What is it?" I asked Inori.

"Huh!?"

"Well, did you say something?"

"No!"

_"Shu! This way!"_

_ "Mana..."_

_"__Left, Shu!"_

"Left, Inori!"

Together we veered off into another alley and made it through just before a large truck pulled in to unload some cargo into the back of a shop, effectively blocking the path behind us.

_"Right, Shu! Left! Forwards!"_

I wasn't sure why I should trust Mana's instructions, especially since she wasn't even supposed to be able to communicate with me outside of my dreams, but it paid off for the time being. We stopped inside a department store to catch our breath.

"Did we...lose them?" Inori panted.

"We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. Come on—let's find somewhere we can make a communication. I'll call Haruka—if anyone traces us, it will look more innocent for me to call my step-mother than it would to call somebody in the government. She can make the other connections to get us a flight back home."

Inori smiled and squeezed my arm.

"What?" I was slightly confused.

"You know, you've really changed since we first met. In a good way. I can't imagine the old Shu being so brave and calm all the time. I like the new you."

"Hmm. You've done a bit of changing, yourself. I can't imagine the old Inori talking to me like that. The running away from Da—er, _them _hasn't changed much, though, has it?"

"'Experience' doesn't count. That's different."

When it was clear we'd lost Da'ath—at least for a while—we found a place in the store we could make a communication back home. Haruka was shocked to hear from us, as she'd heard that Camp Makishi was burned to the ground by terrorists—_three days ago. _There weren't any known survivors besides the two of us, which first responders concluded only by the absence of our bodies. We were suspected to have been captured, but nobody knew for sure. All this she explained in as unspecific of terms as possible, just to be safe, and in kind we asked for her help. A few hours later Arugo and another member of Shibungi's guard located us and saw us safely home on a plane booked by the president himself. From the airport in Tokyo they escorted us straight to the Special Intelligence Division headquarters where we were given the rest of the day to recover.

That is, if a sleepless night could be considered 'recovery'. Inori and I were both restless after all we'd been through, and the one time I finally fell asleep Mana promptly interrupted my rest. She still appeared to me on the same beach as before, but the landscape was different. The yellow sand had turned almost ashen gray, and the ocean had receded a significant distance from the shore. One of the mountains in the area had grown taller and opened at the top, like a volcano waiting to rupture. And most frighteningly of all, Mana herself no longer looked like a child. She seemed to have grown almost back to the state Inori was in three years ago. She still wore the same pink blouse, though.

"You're back," Mana exclaimed with a tilt of her head a smile wholly unfitting for the scenario.

I stood up to face her, breaking from the norm in my nightmares. I didn't like sitting down when she was my equal in height, standing up.

"Thanks to you, I suppose."

"No problem!"

Mana's cheery, childlike attitude betrayed both her appearance and the true self within.

"How were you able to tell me where to go?"

"That's easy! I wanted it reeeaaally hard, and it just happened."

"Why'd you do that?"

"That question makes me angry, _Otouto-chan._"

_"Oops."_

"I tell you every night that I love you! Why don't you ever believe me, Shu?"

Mana's false innocence melted away in an instant, unveiling pure rage on her face.

"You can reject me all you want, and it won't change anything! _Anything! _It's what they said over and over: you _will _do it, you know, whether you want to or not!"

"Do what?"

"Shut up! I don't have to answer anything to you! You'll go back on your own after all, won't you? Of course you will, you're 'King Ouma Shu'! You'll go back to fight them, all _strong_ and _proud_. Then you'll understand, and it will be too late to do anything about it!"

While Mana spoke she inched closer and closer to me until our noses were nearly touching. As she finished she clenched my arm until her fingernails cut into the skin and I started bleeding. Of course being a dream it didn't hurt like a real cut, but I could feel it just the same. Mana forced my arm out in front of me and wiped off the blood with two fingers from her other hand, and then wiped it from them onto her lips.

"Oh, _Otouto-chan..._you really can be dense, can't you?"

I woke up again with enough of a start that I disturbed Inori, too.

"Are you alright, Shu?" She yawned.

"It was just another nightmare. Of...Mana," I confessed for the first time.

She hugged me closely in our bed and caressed my face.

"Don't be scared," she whispered in my ear. "No matter what happens in your dreams, I'll always be right here by your side."

I deeply regretted keeping the nightmares a secret from Inori for so long. Small as it was, her support and awareness of the problem was tremendously freeing and comforting. Furthermore, I should have known that would be the case. Inori had always supported me, ever since she convinced me to participate in Funeral Parlor's Leukocyte mission all those years ago. Even now she never said a word questioning my previous decision to not tell her about Mana and the nightmares—never mind expressing fear or anxiety over them. Just thinking about the level of trust and compassion that required made my heart speed up a bit for the girl in my arms.

The next morning crawled into existence until it was finally time for us to get up and make our report before Shibungi and the Rooks. It was a bit intimidating standing up in front of everyone in the briefing room and revealing my secrets to them, but Mana and her crystal power were important pieces to our story of being kidnapped by Da'ath and then escaping, so I left nothing hidden. I even performed a live demonstration of my crystal ability to prove the truth of my story.

"As Shibungi-daitouryou already knows," I drew the report to a close, "when we came up from the facility we found ourselves in Shanghai, China. Although we didn't see the entirety of their operation there, judging by the number of Endlaves, prison cells, and sheer scale of the facility, it seems likely that we finally know where Da'ath has been coming from these past several years."

"Thank you, Ouma Shu, Ouma Inori," Shibungi dismissed us from our report, standing up in our place while we took seats beside Ayase and Tsugumi. "Clearly this confirms what information we learned from Yan Daryl...before he escaped."

"Escaped!?" Ayase shouted.

The room filled with murmurs.

"As of this very morning, in fact," Shibungi confirmed. "We don't know precisely when, because our security footage has no story to tell. We suspect it was doctored to mask his exit—which means Da'ath's reach extends even here. Naturally this—among many things—worries me. Ouma Shu, Ouma Inori: I do not mean to discredit your bravery and skill in escaping from Da'ath unharmed, however do you not find it odd that no alarm was sounded to call upon the legions of genetically modified infantry they almost certainly have at their disposal?"

I looked at Inori, and she at me.

_"Did you hear any alarm? I didn't,"_ our expressions seemed to communicate.

"What's more," Shibungi continued, "I find it intriguing that this 'Izanagi', if he is not indeed Tsutsugami Gai, made no appearance during your escape. Apparently he was more than capable of defeating you in combat on his own, and you yourself confirmed his presence at the Shanghai facility."

My heart sank.

"The loss of Yan Daryl only further suggests the same conclusion: somehow, Da'ath intends to set us up. They are finally acting out in the open, yet we must not be fooled into believing that is to the exclusion of their previous _modus operandi_. Furthermore, they are willingly giving us information about themselves, but this does not necessarily grant us an advantage. They could well be baiting us, even if that is merely to draw our attention to one tactic so that they may distract us as they execute another and catch us off-guard."

Put that way, it sounded hopeless to fight Da'ath—like they already figured out all the possible outcomes of every move either of us could make and calculated the right response to bring about their desired end. How could we defeat such an enemy? Everyone else in the room looked like they were wondering the exact same thing.

"Nevertheless, I intend for us to move forward," Shibungi continued confidently. "Of course, Shanghai is well outside our jurisdiction. I will seek cooperation with China immediately—I suspect they will be pleased to rid a Japanese terrorist organization from their shores. Camp Makishi should serve as an excellent demonstration of what Da'ath is capable of, to help us win their support. The combined military forces of two nations should at least buy us some time with Da'ath, but I have no intention of sacrificing lives unnecessarily. Contrived or not, we have been handed the next turn in the game, and thus not all is beyond our control. Should we lead Da'ath to believe we are falling for whatever trap they have set then we too can change tactics and finally gain the upper hand, turning their bait into an asset. Ouma Shu: with your cooperation, I will intend to utilize your crystal ability heavily in our strategy. It is likely that Da'ath knows far more about it than we do, but perhaps it is yet enough of an unknown variable to turn the tides in our favor."

"Yes, sir."

"The rest of you: we have our target. Focus your efforts on this Shanghai facility. Even the tiniest of details could be crucial in the final effort to shut down Da'ath. Learn anything and everything you can about it. I will assemble with you again after receiving an answer from China regarding these matters. Dismissed."

The various ranks of Rooks slowly rose from their benches as the room filled with discussions. Tsugumi popped up from her seat and stretched.

"China, huh? Doubt anyone would've thought of that," she said.

"We only ever saw or heard of Da'ath inside Japan, so that's all we searched," Ayase thought aloud. "Now that I think about it, we probably should have figured it out sooner."

"Yeah, and underground Shanghai would've been the first place we looked," Tsugumi replied sarcastically.

"She's right," Inori joined in. "Da'ath had to reveal themselves to us. That's the only way we could ever find them."

An uncertain silence fell over our group for a while as the room slowly emptied out.

"Say, Shu?" Ayase asked. "How long have you had your new...ability?"

"Oh...well, three years, I suppose. It just took a while for me to discover how to use it. That was several months ago now, back when I rescued Inori."

"So you've had time to learn how to control it?"

"Umm, yeah, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

"I trust you, Shu, but that doesn't mean I trust something you can do—not when it looks like the Apocalypse Virus. If Shibungi's relying on it for part of his plan, well...I just wanted to hear you say you can control it."

My mind flashed back to before the Fourth Lost Christmas, seeing Inori run to me, blood stains on her face, fighting Mana's control for all she was worth—and not always succeeding, despite her best efforts. So far I hadn't suffered the same torment, but after the past day with Mana, Ayase's doubt worried me.

"So how do you suppose Daryl got away?" Tsugumi changed the subject, seeing the conversation had taken an awkward turn.

"Well, we've seen the agent Yuu and Gai—er, 'Izanagi' teleport, somehow," I suggested. "Yuu claimed it was genetic modification, I think."

"You don't think Daryl has their abilities now, do you?" Ayase asked.

"I was thinking more that maybe someone who does broke him out."

"Someone...like Gai," she whispered distantly, as if to herself. "Is it...is it _really_ you?"

"Yoo-hoo! Aya-nee!" Tsugumi waved her hand in front of Ayase.

"Stop it, Tsugumi! I was just wondering," she excused, face turning red.

"I'm curious, too," said Inori seriously. "Da'ath revived him once, but that time was different. Shu told me he crystallized and shattered the second time. Sorry...Ayase."

"A-ah, that's right," I confirmed. "I don't know how it would be possible for Da'ath to bring him back again."

"But there is still a lot about Da'ath we don't know. They want an apocalypse and they're strong enough to create one, but so much about it is a mystery to us."

"Don't remind me, Inoreen," Tsugumi groaned. "Aya and I are the ones that have to spend all day figuring that stuff out.

"Are things not going so well?" I asked.

"I wouldn't say that," Ayase replied. "Just...not well enough. Da'ath is huge. There's just too much for us to learn in such a short amount of time. We _are_ learning, but things are happening so fast now I wonder if we'll be able to keep up."

"I wonder if we'll even be able to take them down at all," Tsugumi candidly stated what no one else dared to. "We can chip away at 'em until they die of bug bites, maybe, but like Aya-nee said, we don't have time for that. Can we really put an end to them, just like that?"

"I...I think we can," Inori asserted meekly. "That's something I learned from you, Shu. There will always be bad in the world, and maybe it even outnumbers the good, but when one small, good thing comes along, it has the power to outshine the darkness all around it. It's a beautiful thing. There _is _beauty in the world, even a world so broken and needy as ours."

I took Inori's real hand in mine and gave it a squeeze, noticing our rings with renewed attention in the context of her words. Two small things that meant so much, that represented a tremendous binding power between Inori and me—something which could never be taken from us, even if we were ever taken from each other. Could something like that really make the difference? Could love, friendship, patriotism, and justice stand in the way of Da'ath with all its science, 'natural selection', and lust for power?

"I don't know what will happen," I looked into Inori's eyes, "but no matter what we face, I just want to face it together. So long as we're together...everything is alright."

"Shu..."

Tsugumi cleared her throat.

"Hey, we're still here, you know!"

"It's alright, Tsugumi," Ayase tried to calm her down. "And actually, we shouldn't be. I'm sure we'll be extra busy today plugging holes now that Daryl's escaped."

"Aww, that guy's a pain even when he's not here!"

"Well, if you'd like to go back to being a second-year, I'm sure Shibungi could work something out."

"E-eh!? I didn't say that! Fine, I'm coming! See you later, lovebirds!"

Inori and I watched as Ayase wheeled off with Tsugumi in tow. I couldn't help but smile at the pair.

"_Some_ of us haven't changed a whole lot."

* * *

GC

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues: I bring good news," Shibungi began when we finally met again the next day. "China is sympathetic to our losses suffered at the hand of Da'ath, and has given us their full support in eliminating the Shanghai facility. Fortunately I was able to persuade them of both Da'ath's strength and the usefulness of Ouma Shu's crystal ability, and Japan has been granted permission to join in the assault under its own commander-in-chief rather than follow Chinese leadership explicitly. We were encouraged, of course, to minimize Chinese losses, but they understand the global threat Da'ath poses and are prepared to make necessary sacrifices. Furthermore, the UN would like to protect their investment in this country—in fact they are partly to thank for the smooth negotiations with China. They also have prior experience with Da'ath, especially as far as GHQ was concerned, and would like to prevent a similar debacle from arising as cost so many lives only a few years ago. To that end the UN has committed additional military support of their own to the cause and will act as a coordinator between Japan's and China's militaries.

"Though the details are still under discussion, all three parties have agreed that we must march on Da'ath immediately. I know it is short notice for asking so many of you to leave the country and engage in armed combat, but these are desperate times. To allow Da'ath to develop further could well prove fatal. We are yet young, but now is our chance to prove ourselves as a nation. Da'ath has spoken, and we will answer their call. The three armies involved in the mission will approach the facility from three different directions, fully encompassing it to prevent any Da'ath resources or personnel from going in or out. Any poor and homeless occupying the area will be evacuated to safety. However, based on information uncovered by all of you we have learned that there are a number of underground exits and entrances inside the facility itself, and thus simply surrounding the outside will not be sufficient. Therefore our first goal is to infiltrate the facility and collapse these routes. Multiple infiltration teams will be sent in, each consisting of strike troops, hackers, and demolition specialists. Each team will be responsible to locate and eliminate escape routes as well as relay the locations of additional routes to the other teams as they are discovered.

"Phase two of the assault will begin when Da'ath is successfully pinned down. Ouma Shu, this is when your ability will come into play. I want you as part of a sweep team that will move through the main areas of the facility and eliminate all hostiles. We don't know what we're up against in there, and your crystal power poses the greatest threat to Da'ath's human experiments. As near as we can tell, the facility is shaped like a giant funnel, leading deep into the ground. Logic would suggest that the deeper into the facility we push, the greater the secrets we will uncover. For phase three, specialist teams will follow up behind the main sweep team to search secondary areas, eliminate hostiles, and recover useful data to be relayed back to the surface. We must always be adaptable and able to alter our plans based on what we learn as we go. Da'ath's leadership structure, for example, is essentially unknown. It is possible this 'Izanagi' is a higher-ranking member of the organization, and we should anticipate confronting him and many others like him, if not many that are even more powerful. As high-ranking, high-threat personnel is encountered the sweep team will call in the necessary reinforcements to eliminate them—everyone will be on-call.

Our ultimate goal is total annihilation of Da'ath's assets. It will be a long, arduous process, but one we must endure and complete to its greatest end. We are treading on unfamiliar territory, ladies and gentlemen. Strategies and tactics and orders will not ultimately win the day, but the spur-of-the-moment decisions made by everyone on the battlefield. The ability to adapt, to make fast, wise judgments is paramount for our success. For this reason, however, I am unspeakably grateful to be placing such great responsibility in your hands. I can think of no group more ably suited for this task than that which is before me. Regardless of the outcome, I know I shall not be disappointed by your efforts. Prepare for departure, everyone: we leave for Shanhai the instant preparations are ready. At last, it is time we brought the fight back to Da'ath."

* * *

_Author's notes__: Well, this is my second take of Phase 23.10, and I definitely feel better for having added in the new sections and edited out a few things here and there. Big thanks to GuiltyKingOumaShu for suggesting one of the changes. I hope this second edit was more enjoyable to all of you who read the first, and just an enjoyable continuation for those who missed it (well, you weren't really missing out). Thanks for reading, as always!_


	11. Phase 23-11

**Phase 23.11**

_Shinomiya Ayase_

My heart pounded with anticipation as the visor lowered over my pod and I was engaged to my Endlave, Steiner II.

_"It's been too long," _I smiled as the mech's vision became mine.

Steiner currently stood among numerous other Endlaves in a carrier ship nearing the shores of Shanghai. One by one the other mechs activated as their pilots took control, and then we all just waited for the ship to dock and extend the platform for us to get on land.

"You with me, Tsugumi?"

"Roger that!" she replied over her command interface.

The wait was cut short when bullets suddenly riddled the ceiling above us with dents.

"What was that?" One pilot exclaimed.

"Endlaves: prepare for emergency release," shouted a voice over the ship's PA system. "We are under fire from Chinese anti-naval mounted turrets. I repeat: we are under fire from Chinese anti-naval mounted turrets."

_"Chinese!?"_

"What can you tell me, Tsugumi? "

"I-I don't know! I wasn't planning on keeping track of those guys! Hold on one sec!"

Maybe China wasn't so eager to let us get rid of Da'ath after all. My heart seemed to sink into my stomach. We weren't prepared to fight another enemy at the cost of an ally—not by a long shot. If China was protecting Da'ath, we might as well turn around and go home.

_"Is this already the trap Shibungi suspected we'd run into?"_

Another barrage of bullets punctured the ship, and this time water started to leak in along the ground.

"What are they waiting for? Let us out!" an Endlave pilot shouted.

"We're still too far away!" answered another.

The carrier ship rocked and churned as the crew struggled to push it forward as fast as possible.

_ "Come on..."_

"Tsugumi!"

Before she could answer the end of the carrier burst open and the exit platform extended down into the ocean. The ship was still some 50 meters from shore, but it was taking in water fast and starting to lean to one side. The Endlaves could sustain a little water exposure, but total immersion would destroy them almost instantly. We had no choice but to boost off the carrier and hope we made it far enough that we could land on solid ground. Steiner was better equipped for flight than the average Endlave and so I made it across the water without issue, other than to dodge the attacking turret-fire along the way. Not everyone was so lucky, though. Some Endlaves took a hit or two before even touching down, and one even drained its fuel too quickly and fell into the ocean, never to return.

_"Ks__o__! Not already!"_

Even while controlling Steiner I could feel my muscles tense a bit in the pod. The anti-naval turrets were positioned along a fortified wall a short distance from the beach. One of them took aim and fired at Steiner, but I dodged fast and then boosted up at the turret when it stopped firing for cool-down. Steiner landed on top of the wall and I took aim for the turret's operator.

_"Yyyaaaa!"_

My Endlave's right cannon arm opened fire and dispatched the operator in an instant. He was followed by several others as I sped Steiner across the wall, tearing apart anyone that fired a weapon at the approaching Japanese army.

"Woo! You get 'em, Aya-nee!" Tsugumi cheered into my ears.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Someone started shouting.

I looked around and saw a Chinese general scrambling up a flight of stairs onto the wall and waving his hands. Most of his men listened and held back their arms, but one took aim at Steiner and fired, regardless. He missed, but the general wasn't any more forgiving for it. He executed the soldier on the spot, and turned to look at the others, smoke still clearing from his pistol.

"Anyone else want to betray an _ally_?"

No one made a sound.

"Then let us hope our relationship hasn't already been ruined."

The general turned to me and saluted.

"My sincerest apologies for the welcome, Endlave."

Steiner couldn't very well salute in return, so to show my acceptance of the gesture I boosted off the wall and landed back down with the rest of the Endlave fleet. Our own leader, a balding man with a mustache and named Commander Matsumoto took note of the turn of events and arranged a peaceful meeting with the Chinese General, Zhao. Everyone waited anxiously while the men spoke privately in a room inside the beachfront wall for what felt like forever. In reality it wasn't long before Commander Matsumoto emerged and announced to us Endlave pilots:

"I am convinced that General Zhao did not sanction the offense against us and that our alliance with China still holds. However, we suspect that the attackers were secretly Da'ath agents, and they were organized, so watch your backs: there could be more such surprises before this is all over."

The Chinese general then came out as well.

"General Zhao," Matsumoto continued, "this unfortunate incident has delayed us significantly and separated us from the rest of our army. What's the fatest way for our Endlaves to reach the facility? I believe you know the one I speak of."

* * *

GC

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

No one said a word as we neared the underground facility. Inori and I rode along with several members of the Special Intelligence Division in the back of a military truck. I fidgeted with my pistol, checking each part over a dozen times to pass the eternal minutes by. Even though Mana's crystal ability would be my main weapon Shibungi insisted I carry a sidearm too, just to be safe. A familiar hand gently touched my shoulder as I worked.

"Are you alright, Shu?"

I looked up at Inori sitting beside me in a black catsuit.

"A-ah, yeah," I forced a smile.

"You weren't this nervous when we were brought here before," Inori pointed out. "Shu, you can tell me: is it Mana? Did she say something to you? Do something?"

I noticed a man across from me glance in my direction, curious to hear the answer. I knew that I could tell Inori anything, but I hesitated a bit to trust everyone else in the truck quite so intimately.

"It was—"

My response was cut off by the vehicle coming to an abrupt stop. The back door rolled up at the driver's command and everyone filed out quickly. The noise of trucks, soldiers, and equipment echoed through the subterranean atmosphere, but it was strangely quiet for what would soon be a battle zone.

"Where are the Endlaves?" someone asked.

"Not here yet?"

"I heard there was trouble on the beach."

"Trouble? Man, we're screwed without the Endlaves!"

I tried to ignore such talk amongst the men and women preparing to fight. It only added to the tension. I was determined to win—to destroy Da'ath—but Mana's words from my latest nightmare ate away at me inside. Back in Funeral Parlor, Gai always had a plan that involved playing other people right into his hand, and this mission had his fingerprints all over it. Shibungi believed we were walking into a setup and Mana heavily suggested as much herself. The plan was for keen eyes and quick wits to give us the victory, but while I could see that working for Inori and the others, I doubted my own ability to do the same with Mana potentially clouding my mind.

Inori and I led the group from the transport truck over to the sweep team station, where we would attack from a distance within shelter until phase two of the mission began. Along the way we could see the Japanese, Chinese, and UN armies already gathered in full circle around the Da'ath facility—a huge silver dome protruding from the ground and touching the rock ceiling. There wasn't anything especially remarkable about it from the outside, other than the fact that there weren't any other similar structures around. It could easily have been mistaken as utility center of some kind—sewage, garbage, or water, perhaps. Still, the fact that such a large installation had gone unnoticed for so long suggested that Da'ath had some inside help in the Chinese government. That and numerous other convenient coincidences for Da'ath worried me that we were all missing some key element right in front of our noses. I decided to keep my mind working on that thought whenever possible.

A guard at the door to the station let us inside as we approached, and to everyone's surprise we were greeted by General Hashimoto, the man in charge of the whole operation directly beneath Shibungi.

"Change of plans," he declared bluntly. "The Endlave fleet was delayed at the beach and we don't want to give Da'ath any more time to react to our presence. Rather than wait for them to arrive here I have decided to dispatch a special infiltration team to locate and open a gate which we believe will let our Endlaves in the same way Da'ath lets their Endlaves out. Of course this would mean pushing through Da'ath Endlave forces until our own can get in and provide cover, and that means heavy weaponry. Ouma Shu: if the president is to be believed, you're the heaviest weapon we've got, so I would like to send you in along with other heavy weapons specialists. You would then remain inside the facility until phase two, at which point you'd rejoin the sweep team as the pass by your location. Can I count on your cooperation?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Very good. Then follow me. The rest of you take hold here, as planned—the station is stocked with arms and equipment."

I turned around to exit behind the general and nearly bumped into Inori. At once she looked so beautiful, so strong, so calm, yet so vulnerable, so anxious. I quickly wrapped my arms around Inori and held her tightly while she returned the gesture, sadness increasing on her face as we moved in together.

"You said things would be alright so long as we're together," she nearly cried. "I don't want to lose you, Shu!"

"It will be alright," I tried to convince us both. "We'll only be split up for a little while. You can do this—I know you can."

"That's not what I was worried about. Please...be careful, Shu. Really."

I wasn't exactly sure how to answer. With all my rising doubts, the possibility of death was very real to me, but I'd committed to the mission anyway. I'd destroy Da'ath and save Inori—I knew that much—but if achieving that goal cost me my life, then I was prepared to go that far. I couldn't promise to Inori that I'd preserve myself, but I also didn't want to worry her by suggesting that I might never walk back out of the facility. Instead I did neither: with my false hand I gently pushed Inori's face towards mine and we kissed, savoring the moment of companionship, closeness, warmth, love. Letting go of Inori after that was by far the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life.

"I love you, Inori."

"Shu...I love you, too."

With that we parted and I hurried to catch up to General Hashimoto. He led me a short distance to another station the Japanese army had set up, inside which was a group of tough-looking men readying all manner of heavy weaponry.

"Ouma Shu, meet Charlie Team," said the general.

I looked around at the line of faces and noticed a familiar one amongst the small crowd.

"Arugo!"

"Shu!"

"You aren't with the president?"

"He gave me permission. I still haven't forgotten what Da'ath or GHQ or whatever the heck they call themselves did to Oogumo."

Oogumo—late member of Funeral Parlor's Charlie Team. I got the feeling Arugo had something to do with the code name of our specialist group.

"You all know your orders, gentlemen," the general ignored my exchange with Arugo. "Our best intel suggests that the Endlave entrance is a few stories down, inside a garage, most likely on the west side of the facility. We'll feed you more information as we have it. Get down there, push through any Endlaves that stand in your way, and open that gate. Our own Endlaves will handle things from there."

"Yes sir!" Everyone saluted.

The general exited with a salute of his own and left us gather our equipment before we headed down to the facility to wait behind the first two infiltration teams as they prepared explosives around the dome's bulkhead doors. So far Da'ath hadn't shown itself to the three surrounding armies, but that would surely change as soon as we rang the doorbell, so to speak. The demolition experts stood back from their work on the bulkheads and one of them raised three fingers in the air, then only two, just one, and then finally a fist.

My ears rang from the explosion that followed, amplified by the rocky underground. Before the smoke had even cleared the first infiltration teams were inside the facility, and gunfire opened only seconds later.

"Let's move!" Arugo shouted with a wave of his hand.

Charlie Team gathered behind Arugo and me and together we charged inside, unsure of what to expect. We immediately found that Da'ath was definitely expecting us, as they had set up barricades facing the entrance and were attempting to gun down all who came in, using the door as an effective funnel. The infiltration teams before us had shields, but even so not all of the bodies on the floor were Da'ath agents. Still, they pushed through successfully, and by the time Charlie was fully inside the room was too chaotic for Da'ath's funnel strategy to work any longer. Between my crystal ability and Arugo's expert aim we had the room mostly cleared behind the infiltration team in a matter of seconds, without further losses.

"Looks like these guys weren't modified," Arugo observed. "I didn't see any mind powers or jumping through time and space."

"Guess they save the best for last," I replied, releasing a crystal blade.

A device on Arugo's belt beeped.

"Charlie Team, this is Alpha. We've located a stairwell to the lower levels of the facility. Recommend you do not use the elevators. Sending coordinates now."

"Understood," Arugo replied. "That was fast."

We followed Alpha Team's directions down one floor, passing by several bodies along the way. Da'ath was losing men fast, but so were we, and we hadn't exactly come across their best and brightest yet. I wondered how the UN and Chinese militaries were doing in their thirds of the facility.

"Wait a moment," I stopped everyone. "This looks similar to one of the floors I was on before. If it follows the same scheme, I think I can get us to an Endlave garage!"

Arugo nodded and gestured with his rifle for me to take point. At my lead we found the hallways easily enough, but Inori and I had moved through them so quickly that I couldn't remember exactly how to find the garages again. I kept my eyes peeled for any kind of unusual door, but the farther we went, the less confident I became. Everything started to look equally familiar and foreign.

"Umm...this way! No, we couldn't have turned here. Over there!"

We burst through one door and prepared to open fire, only to see a horde of painfully thin children scamper away to hide in their bedraggled bunks.

"What is this?" Arugo wondered aloud.

"This ain't right, man," another member of Charlie Team commented. "What are they doing, running tests on these kids?"

"I don't want to think about it, to be honest."

Arugo reached down to the communication device on his belt.

"Charlie to base: request to mark our location for the secondary infiltration teams. We've got children here, I repeat: _children_ here. Possibly test subjects, showing no signs of hostility."

While Arugo talked I stepped in closer to the terrified kids. Something about them had caught my eye, and my heart skipped when I figured out what it was. All of them were male, about ten years old, and while the color of their hair varied, all of the boys' faces were exactly the same. What's more, it was a face I knew well from my own childhood.

_"Triton..."_ Mana's voice echoed in my mind a bit too audibly.

_ "Is this the sort of place you came from, Gai?"_

"Shu! We need to keep moving," Arugo reminded me.

"Right."

I decided not to mention anything about the children or Gai. That mystery would have to be solved later. For now I had to stay focused and find the Endlave garage. Every minute I failed to lead us there lives were being lost—lives that our Endlaves could potentially save.

* * *

GC

* * *

_Shinomiya Ayase_

It took the fleet a while to regroup after the incident on the beach. The setback annoyed me. We received word from General Hashimoto that the assault had begun and that a team had been sent in to open a gate for our Endlaves and make up lost time, but that just meant we couldn't even attempt to go anywhere or do anything until then. Those that took a couple scuffs earlier disengaged from their Endlaves for some on-field repairs, but I couldn't do that sort of thing in a wheelchair and Steiner wasn't in need of fixing anyway. Instead I just waited anxiously, staying engaged so I'd be ready the very moment we were given the signal to move.

"Any progress, Tsugumi?"

"Not in the ten seconds since you last asked, Aya-nee."

"Well, can't you do something? Hack the gate open!"

"Hard to do when I don't know where the gate is."

"Then find it!"

"You think I haven't been looking? Once we get inside I'll be able to isolate Da'ath's network and have some real fun, but until then I'm only guessing at whose party I'm crashing."

"How can Da'ath hide an exit for Endlaves, anyway? You'd think _someone _would've noticed it."

"Unless they own the place where it comes up from the—"

There was a long pause, during which I could almost feel Tsugumi dancing around her holographic controls.

"Tsugumi?"

"Hang on!"

Another pause.

"Tell everyone to get back in their Endlaves, Aya! And stay back from the wall!"

I relayed Tsugumi's requests to Commander Matsumoto and in turn he ordered the rest of the fleet to comply.

"Ready?" she asked when we were all in formation.

"Yes, but we still don't know what for."

"Good! Three...two...one...zero! Ta-da! Open sesame!"

The Endlave fleet watched in amazement as the face of the beachfront wall creaked and slowly sank into the ground, revealing an underground passage just large enough for an Endlave beneath it.

"I'd say that explains why Da'ath was so trigger-happy earlier," Tsugumi said.

General Zhao and his remaining men stood beside the fleet, astounded. The shock was momentary however, and soon his face became gravely serious, almost sinister.

"I tried detaining you mercifully," he said, "but I see you are insistent upon forcing the hand of Da'ath!"

With that he grabbed a communication device from his belt and started shouting into it in Chinese.

_"Him too!?"_

I should have waited for Matsumoto's orders and I knew it, but something got the better of me and without thinking I reached out Steiner's cannon arm and gunned down General Zhao while he was still speaking. His men immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

"Yamada: disengage and secure these men for questioning," Matsumoto ordered someone among the fleet. "It would seem I should have been more thorough in my discussion with 'General' Zhao. Shinomiya: your quick judgment is commendable, but see to it that you not forget discretion, understood?"

"Yes, sir! I'm sorry, sir!"

With the gate open and the threat neutralized Commander Matsumoto took the lead with his Endlave at the underground entrance.

"This is it, everyone! Here we make our mark on history, for ourselves, for our nation, for the world!"

War cries abounded to a fever pitch and the Endlave fleet sped into the tunnel. At long last the final battle had begun.

* * *

_Author's notes: Umm, yeah, I'd say I'm definitely not going to have this thing finished by next chapter. So two more chapters to go, then! And if you didn't notice before, Chapter 10 got pretty majorly updated, so go back and check out Phase 23.10 if you missed the second version. I really didn't like how it turned out the first time. Good thing is, things really feel back on track with this one. At least they do to me-hopefully I'm not the only one that feels that way. Well, stay tuned for the continuation of the big battle! Epic stuff is in the works. Thanks as always for reading!_


	12. Phase 23-12

**Phase 23.12**

_Ouma Shu_

"The garage is this way! I'm sure of it, this time!"

It was something of a lie, but we were running out of time and I didn't want my continual failure to lead Charlie Team correctly to frustrate anyone. By this point I was relying on gut feelings rather than memory, and I had a gut feeling that the next door was the right one. To my relief, it proved accurate. We burst through into the side of the garage to face row upon row of Endlaves, but none of them were active.

Arugo's communication device beeped again, echoing up and down the metal structure, and at the sound every Endlave in the room started activating and standing up.

"Holy—"

"Base to Charlie," a voice spoke over the device.

"This is Charlie, we read you," Arugo replied quickly as Endlaves continued setting themselves up all across the room and members of Charlie Team swapped weapons with the heavy artillery they carried in on their backs.

"Charlie, we just received word from the Endlave fleet. They've dealt with the situation on the beach and hacked open a gate. Should be converging on your location soon."

"Good, 'cuz we've got trouble here! Every Endlave Da'ath's got is activating as we sp—"

Arugo was interrupted by an Endlave taking aim on our position and opening fire. The team was divided in half as we dodged in opposite directions and then came back up with weapons loaded. Rockets and grenades soon engulfed the room in deafening noise and blinding smoke, taking out multiple mechs along the way. For my part I started hurling crystals into the chaos, slicing at the Endlaves' waists for maximum damage. But our metal opponents didn't just stand there and let us have at them. Though we tried our best to stick together, Charlie Team was slowly split up and spread out all across the garage to dodge all manner of projectiles the Endlaves were equipped with. Before long I was fully occupied just manifesting shields and cutting bullets out of the air—the team wouldn't have survived otherwise.

"Where the heck is our fleet?" Arugo shouted over the noise.

I thought hard. Then it dawned on me: we were instructed to locate an Endlave entrance on the west side of the facility because that's the only one we knew about. But if the fleet found an entrance on their own coming from the beach, that would mean they were entering on the east side instead.

"It's the wrong garage!" I replied. "They must have gotten in on the other side!"

"Are you serious?" roared a member of Charlie Team as he sent a rocket flying into an Endlave's head. "So what, are we gonna miss the sweep team, now?"

_ "Inori!"_

It was a real possibility. The plan was for Charlie, the fleet, and the sweep team to all converge at phase two, and since we were _supposed_ to be with the fleet, the sweep team might just pass us by. Charlie Team was effectively a straggler—most likely we wouldn't receive support at our current location until the secondary infiltration teams moved through all the way out in phase three. That would be an awfully long time to hold out against these mechs.

"What do we do, Arugo?" another team member asked.

"Not this!"

Arugo dove beneath an Endlave missile, rolled in my direction, and came back up to fire off an RPG. His target was a step ahead of him though, and shot a missile right back. The two projectiles would've collided, but I leaped over and made a crystal block just in front of the Endlave missile, destroying it before it hit Arugo's RPG. I landed in a roll and stood back up in front of Arugo just in time to make a shield to protect us from the resulting blast, now mixed with deadly crystal shards. Arugo's target fell, but was immediately replaced by another Endlave. There were just too many for us to handle on our own.

"Need a hand?" a voice came out of nowhere, accompanied by several rockets that took down a handful of Endlaves with ease.

A moment later a team of soldiers in UN uniforms stepped up beside us with heavy weapons of their own.

"Lieutenant Katsumi Aki," a woman beside Arugo introduced herself.

"Tsukishima Arugo," he replied.

"We heard the commotion and thought you might need an assist!"

"You thought correctly, Lieutenant!"

Everyone dove out of the way of more gunfire and then fought back, three times stronger what for our newfound support.

"We've been separated from the rest of our army," Arugo explained to the Lieutenant. "Have UN forces made much progress?"

"Yes, but complications have arisen. Perhaps we should find a better place to talk!"

"Agreed! Charlie: fall back!"

One by one everyone exited back into the hallways until it was just Lieutenant Katsumi and Arugo left firing, with me as their defense. Endlave fire rained down on us as we stepped backwards to safety, at a disadvantage for moving to one point while the Endlaves could spread out. I shot out spikes and shields as fast as I could, but while I managed to protect the other two, I myself was exposed for half a second and a pain shot through my right shoulder just before the door closed in front of us and we were safe once again.

"Shu!" Arugo exclaimed, noticing blood on my shoulder.

"I'm alright," I promised.

"Don't try to be a hero," said the Lieutenant. "You've done your part for now. There's no shame in visiting a medic."

"No, you don't understand. I'm fine."

I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes, and focused on the point of pain. In a few moments I could feel two hard objects scraping against one another inside me. There was a brief period where my shoulder burned so badly I couldn't even think, but then all of a sudden the pain dissipated to a dull ache, and there was a series of _clinks_ as a bullet fell from my wound onto the floor, forced out by my crystals. I opened my eyes and tested my right arm. Everything still worked fine, though a bit less comfortably than before.

"That's some ability you have, there," Katsumi commented in amazement. "Too bad it looks like the Apocalypse Virus."

"It's not contagious, I promise."

"Forgive me, I meant no offense. It's just...a bit hard to see."

"I understand. Believe me, I do."

"Sorry to interrupt, but you were going to inform us of the mission's progress?" Arugo reminded the Lieutenant.

"Ah, yes. Or rather, what has gotten in the way of it. We suspected from the beginning that Da'ath may have infiltrated China's government, and it turns out that hunch was correct. You've no doubt heard that your Endlave fleet was detained, but what isn't being spread around is that it was Da'ath agents within the Chinese military that caused the trouble."

Arugo cursed at the news.

"So what, are an entire third of our forces traitors?"

"That's what we'd like to know. By numbers the Chinese actually account for _more_ than a third of our forces, so if they can't be trusted we'd prefer to find out sooner rather than later. This is a UN task, though—your own military is not required to dedicate resources to keeping tabs on China. And for now it does appear that at least a portion of China's infantry is genuinely on our side, so don't be too quick to judge them all as foes."

"Even if that's true, I don't like this one bit. Too many things are going downhill too fast."

"But our fleet did eventually get in," I reminded Arugo.

"Right. Well, let's hope things are going more according to plan on their end, now."

* * *

GC

* * *

_Shinomiya Ayase_

I wasn't sure if we'd successfully broken in to Da'ath headquarters or just a big, metal beehive. Endlaves swarmed the area both on the floor and in the air. To make matters worse the area was quickly littered with derelict mechs and their dismembered parts, further complicating navigation in the crowded space. Japan had far more Endlaves than Da'ath, but what our adversary lacked in numbers they made up in effectiveness. Their Endlaves were smaller than ours, more maneuverable, and yet their weaponry was heavier than average. What's more, they were either equipped with AI or driven by genetically modified pilots and had incredible aim and reflexes. If space hadn't been so limited, I don't know but that we would have dangerously struggled to land any significant hits on the enemy.

"Come on, you little gnats!" shouted a nearby Japanese pilot in an especially large, bulky Endlave. "See how you like this!"

He reached out a big arm and grabbed a Da'ath Endlave out of the air as it tried to boost up and out of the way, then slung it over his head and into the ground, right on top of another one. Both were smashed to bits and exploded, blackening the big Endlave's arm. The pilot laughed victoriously. Meanwhile I sped Steiner off to one side to dodge oncoming enemy fire, then kicked up a dead Endlave from the floor to act as a shield while I closed in on my attacker. The robot was quickly shot and exploded, and I fired into the smoke. By the time it cleared my target was full of holes and fully inoperable. A moment later another Da'ath Endlave pounced on Steiner's head and was just about to shoot out my optics when I boosted up to the ceiling and crushed the Endlave on top of me. And Steiner's feet hadn't even touched the ground again before I found myself engaged with another hostile.

It was the fastest, most frantic Endlave combat I'd ever experienced. Human combatants would have been exhausted from the flurry in minutes, but of course robots knew no such fatigue. However even the mind can grow weary, and after some time of constant action passed I could feel my finesse slipping ever so slightly.

_"Not now, Ayase! Just hold on a bit longer! We're making progress—we have to do this. _You _have to do this."_

I let out a battle cry and took out three more enemies in one sweep with Steiner's cannon arm. Mech parts were piled all over the floor now. I could almost smell the metallic fumes that must've filled the air. We'd lost numerous members of the fleet, but somehow Da'ath was losing more. If we just held out long enough, it looked like we could score a sound victory for Japan.

That's when a funicular at the end of the garage activated and gave passage to the first wave of backups. Leading them was a larger Endlave with red stripes and a name printed across the left side of its chest.

_"Orion?"_

"Is...is that _Steiner _I see?" Orion's pilot taunted arrogantly.

"Aya!" Tsugumi shouted into my ear. "It's him!"

"Yan Daryl," I confirmed.

"Well who else would it be? You think I'd pass up the chance to finally finish off you little runts?"

Another Endlave tried to take advantage of my distraction and gun me down, but Daryl reached up and shot the mech down instead. It managed to get off one shot, but I easily blocked it with a shield mounted on Steiner's left arm.

"Stay out of this!" he roared. "This one's mine!"

I heard Tsugumi's knuckles cracking.

"Ready for this, Aya!"

Honestly I couldn't tell if I was or not. I could feel my brow furrowing in my pod as determination welled up inside me.

"Yes," I replied firmly.

I braced Steiner's feet into the ground and then boosted forward towards Orion, blasting through another of Da'ath's Endlaves along the way. My charge was brought to a desperate halt when Daryl responded by extending a long sword from Orion's right arm, nearly causing me to impale Steiner straight through the chest. Such blades were not common on Endlaves due to the arms' movement being somewhat limited, but I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that Da'ath found a way to make one responsive enough to effectively handle such a weapon.

"What do you think of _this_, huh!?" Daryl crowed, swinging the blade around. "Don't think I miss Steiner much anymore!"

I blocked Daryl's blows with Steiner's shield, but I feared it wouldn't hold up long. Sparks flew everywhere with each collision.

"But that doesn't mean I forgive you," he kept talking. "You still stole my Steiner, and its your fault I lost Gespenst. I don't like it when people take what belongs to me!"

He swung down from above, but I quickly dodged off to one side and shot the blade right at its base. The first hit simply made the metal shimmer, but the second left a decent crack, and with the third the blade broke entirely.

"Hah! You think I didn't come prepared?"

My crazed opponent released the broken blade from Orion's arm and promptly extended a new one in its place.

"_This _time, you're not getting off the hook so easily, you little runts!"

* * *

GC

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

Lieutenant Katsumi Aki took point as our combined team made its way back through the halls.

"You say this is where you found a group of children?" She asked.

"Yes," Arugo answered. "Not that it was unexpected, but it still made me sick inside to see it with my own two eyes."

"Then you'll be delighted to know that this isn't the only facility where such things go on."

"Again, not surprising."

"But what _is _a bit unexpected is how easily we were able to obtain records elsewhere on this floor containing precise data on Da'ath's other locations. They've got smaller facilities all over the globe—I know, not surprising—and we now have the ability to shut each one down. I've already forwarded all of the data to the UN, so no matter what happens, we've got them."

"Sounds like you're doing better than us, then."

We continued moving for some time without further chatter. Katsumi took us back a different route than we came in, leading to a stairwell found by a UN infiltration team.

"Is this where we part, or shall we continue on together?" the Lieutenant asked.

Arugo took his communication device, switched the frequency, and held it up to his face.

"General Hashimoto, this is Tsukishima."

A reply didn't come for several seconds—no doubt the general was busy issuing commands to a number of parties.

"This is Hashimoto, what's your status?"

"The Endlave fleet found its way in a different garage than our team located. At the moment we've joined forces with a UN team led by Lieutenant Katsumi Aki and are separated from our own military. Shall we attempt to rejoin our own sweep team or continue on under Katsumi's lead?"

"Japan's sweep team has already made significant progress into the dome. I doubt you'll be able to make it to their location in time, and we can't afford to hold them back to wait for your arrival. If you didn't have Ouma Shu I'd send you with the Lieutenant immediately, but I'm concerned for our sweep team's performance without him."

"The UN has a sweep team as well," Katsumi chimed in. "If we paved the way in our third of the facility with Ouma Shu then there would be far less resistance for Japan's team to handle behind us. We already know that the building narrows the farther down it goes, so eventually our progress will overlap as it is. Fewer hostiles should mean less firepower necessary to take them down."

General Hashimoto thought a moment before giving his orders.

"Alright, I'll inform our sweep team to proceed without you. Good luck, gentlemen."

Arugo was visibly relieved at the decision—I wondered if it had something to do with Katsumi, judging by his expression.

"That's it, then," he said. "We're yours to command, Lieutenant."

"Welcome aboard," she nodded.

With that we began our descent, joined up with the UN's large sweep team, and finally started making real progress through the Da'ath facility. Before long evidences of all the infiltration teams disappeared as they'd split up and plugged holes so no one and nothing associated with Da'ath could slip in or out. As such the farther our team went, the more hostiles we encountered, and the more hostiles we encountered, the more skilled agents we discovered. At first it was easy enough for me to set up crystal shields to protect the others while they gunned down everything that moved, but things got more difficult once we started engaging genetically modified subjects. Some had the same ability as Yuu and Gai to teleport around the room, others had skin with the resilience of carbon fiber, more had inhumanly fast reflexes, and a few could even stop bullets in midair with their minds. It was a long and grueling fight, claiming the lives of easily a dozen UN soldiers and earning everyone else on the team at least one mark or another. But we didn't let up. Ever downward we pushed—sometimes literally, shoving through Da'ath bodies like a collective battering ram with a crystal head. I'd never seen such carnage, not to mention so many mindless human drones so physically corrupted by Da'ath's experiments that they eagerly hurled themselves at us with no concern for their own safety or pain. Not all of the experiments were even fully clothed or armed, but they attacked with whatever powers they had and so we were forced to eliminate them, no matter how pitiful their state.

I'd lost count of how many floors the team had cleared when Lieutenant Katsumi finally stopped us from continuing onward.

"We should hold this position for a while if we can," she said, looking around the room at the panting men and women of the UN's sweep team. "We'll only get all of ourselves killed if we go on like this. Tsukishima: are you able to track your sweep team's progress?"

Arugo made a quick communication and then turned back to the Lieutenant.

"Sounds like they're six floors above us," he confirmed, still breathing hard from the assault.

"I see. We can't stay here long enough for them to catch up, then. We'll have to continue on our own."

No one made a sound, though the disappointment in the room was palpable. Personally my mind wasn't entirely focused on the challenges yet to come, though. When everyone quieted down to catch their breath I took Arugo aside to ask him something privately.

"Did you catch how many casualties have been in our team so far?"

"Nine," he answered gravely.

"And...Inori...is she..." I couldn't even bring myself to say the words.

"Yes. The commander commented that they almost don't miss you with her on the team. Said he's never seen anything like her."

My spirit lifted to the point it was like I hadn't expended energy all day.

"Thanks, Arugo."

We were allowed only a few minutes of rest, though even that was generous of the Lieutenant under the circumstances. Standing to face the team, she took up her weapon and loudly clicked it off of safety to get everyone's attention.

"We should keep moving," Katsumi declared. "As you can all see the floors are getting quite small, so we must be close. Remain strong: with one more push, I am confident we can break through to the bottom of this facility and this fight. All of you have already accomplished much for the cause, yet our task is incomplete: now is not the time to falter. Now, we finish the fight!"

A weak round of shouts and cheers went around the room as everyone genuinely tried to rile themselves up for their remaining part in the conflict.

"An inspiring little pep-talk," a voice suddenly echoed all over the floor from some kind of PA system, "but I am afraid you are mistaken: your role in the universe is already quite finished. There is one in your midst with whom I would meet, but the rest of you are not invited."

Somehow I understood exactly what was going on—in fact I had expected it sooner, so I didn't hesitate to step forward from the crowd at the voice's bidding. The others were less certain, though. I only progressed a couple paces before Arugo reached out and stopped me by the arm.

"Shu! Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

I turned to Arugo and smiled to assure him everything would be alright.

"Yes. This is my burden. No matter what happens, I'm ready to face it. I know I've run from it, abused it, hidden it...but no more. This is something I have to do. You've...always been a good friend to me, Arugo."

"Shu..."

I pulled free of Arugo's grasp and walked to the very center of the circular room.

"I accept your invitation!" I resolutely declared to the ceiling, picturing the very essence of Da'ath in its place. A moment later a bright light appeared beneath my feet and slowly swirled up my body. Everyone watched in amazement and fear, unsure of how to react.

"If I don't come back, take care of Inori for me!"

I wasn't sure who I was talking to, and nobody answered. But I knew they all heard me, and I hoped that would be enough. The light at my feet continued upwards until it covered my face, at which point a feeling of total weightlessness overcame my being. Then the brightness faded, my feet hit the ground again, and I found myself in a totally different area of the facility: the very bottom floor. It was a dark room with an extremely high ceiling, and circular like the last floor. A flat-topped cone platform stood in the center, with satellite-like fins decorating its rim. A light shone down on the strange contraption—the primary light source for the entire room. And most importantly, directly across from me stood a crystal throne whose back extended to the ceiling, and whose occupant was none other than the blue-haired Gai, Izanagi, dressed completely in white.

"Welcome to my domain, Ouma Shu-kun," he said. "It's high time you knew the truth—the _whole _truth."

* * *

_Author's notes: Wow, this fanfic isn't even quite finished yet and its already crossed 2,000 views! Thanks so much, everyone! I think things really will be drawing to a close next time, but there's a lot to cover and I may tack on an epilogue as well, to be released as a separate chapter on the same day as Phase 23.13, so stay tuned while I make sure everything gets finished strong-it may be a bit slower in coming than the other chapters so far, but the plan is to have it up no later than the end of the week._

So, explanations...I've done my best to jot down notes as I've gone along to make sure I explain everything I can in the climax, but it's likely I've missed a few things. I won't spoil what's in the works right now, but if there's some burning Guilty Crown questions out there I'd love to hear them so I can try my hand at answering them over the next few days. You know what to do.

_Well, here we go: down to the wire, as I like to say. Thanks as always for reading!  
_


	13. Phase 23-13

**Phase 23.13**

Izanagi: the mythological god who gave birth to the Japanese islands, according to legend. A fitting, even if arrogant name for the man who sought to re-birth the world in the Final Apocalypse. And at last I stood before him, face-to-face, prepared to fight. There was nowhere else to go, no more mysteries to uncover. This was my final destination—whether I walked away alive or not.

"Welcome to my domain, Ouma Shu-kun. It's high time you knew the truth—the _whole_ truth."

His words echoed through the chamber with all the force of fate itself.

"I know enough," I corrected him. "I may not know who or what you are, I may not know much about Da'ath or Cocytus or Mana—and maybe it's because I'm still just a kid who doesn't know anything—but I know that all of you are trying to start another apocalypse, and that's enough for me. I won't cower in fear anymore, I won't run, and I won't even hide what's inside me: I'll stand front and center and protect everyone!"

The man on the crystal throne smirked.

"I did not summon you here to insult you, Ouma-kun. Everything you've been through recently has been a strengthening exercise, to attune you to Mana's power. The more you use it, the more she becomes a part of you and you of her. This was always Mana's inevitable destination, so to bring you here I simply had to ensure that you were strong enough to be brought along with her. It is the will of fate, you see—the will of Da'ath."

It was very surreal, speaking to someone who looked and sounded exactly like the Gai I once knew. The nature of his words only added to the strangeness.

"And I suppose that's you? Are you 'the will of Da'ath'? Not another envoy, like the agent Yuu?"

"Your questions are rhetorical, yet I sense a hint of genuine doubt in your voice. Do you know who I am, Ouma Shu, or do you not?"

"You _look _like a man I once knew: Tsutsugami Gai."

The man on the throne closed his eyes a moment, an odd grin spread across his face.

"I know of this 'Gai', but as you no doubt have guessed, I am not he. I have only one name, and that is Izanagi. Gai was among many bred to be my equal, my opposite, in the hopes that by creating conflict and then bringing balance to it one with the power of Cocytus would arise in his wake, if not he himself."

"And what exactly is Cocytus?"

"_You _know of Cocytus through your sister, Mana. You would say it is her passive abilities, which she obtained uniquely by coming into direct contact with the meteor which bore the Apocalypse Virus to this world. The _p__ower_ of Cocytus itself does not infect its owner without exposure to genomic resonance, nor is it precisely contagious. In its mildest form it can command the Virus, and in its strongest form it will explode, spreading it all over the world. Thus, Ouma Mana aside, Cocytus is more properly described as a carrier. It surrounds the Virus like a river, bearing the will of human nature in its waves. Moreover to Da'ath it is the final piece in our most complex puzzle, a way to obliterate the world at the molecular level without permanently destroying it. The new humanity's DNA will be based on genomic research, and given the right conditions will develop to be impervious to the negative effects of the Apocalypse Virus while retaining its ability to draw out manifestations of the human heart, in addition to other genetic enhancements. Yes, to most Cocytus yields only death, but the fittest will indeed drink deep of its waters and be given life anew."

"Mana..."

"I am glad to see you catch on quickly. You yourself once witnessed her rebirth in Cocytus, and it could yet happen again. Such power is the key we have sought after for millennia. Da'ath's pursuit has always been the rebirth of humanity—to purge the old world to make way for the new—yet until my time came we never succeeded. Numerous paths were chosen under different leaders with different means, but all of it was toward the same end. Government, religion—these things did not yield us the results we desired. It was I that recognized _science_ as the clear path to achieving our goals, and under my leadership Da'ath has unlocked many mysteries of the human DNA. Yet none could have predicted the breakthroughs made by your father, Ouma Kurosu. How innocently he began, researching things too powerful for him out of academic curiosity alone! Kurosu's fate was already declared before we even appeared and made our interest in his work known. One who plays with fire long enough is sure to burn himself."

"And I suppose Da'ath is the exception to that rule?"

"Hmph. Not if being burned is the desired effect. Da'ath originally discovered the meteor which was eventually sent crashing to earth, and not because we understood it, but because we knew that whatever properties it contained it had the potential to be a tool for an apocalypse—for the simultaneous natural selection and evolution of all men. I have been watching intently ever since as the effects of the meteor have expanded and diversified—needless to say, it has exceeded our expectations, and thanks in no small part to Ouma Kurosu for his dedicated research. Though he may have acted independently, his work was invaluable to us, and conveniently he was already associated with Shuichiro Keido, whom Yuu easily swayed to our cause and went on to be one of our best agents."

"Yuu...recruited Shuichiro..."

"Does this surprise you? A matter of perceived age, no doubt. Our youth betrays the length of our existences, to outsiders at least. Yuu was long the face of Da'ath to GHQ, even as GHQ was the face of Da'ath to the rest of the world—a puppet for a puppet, all in the same of secrecy. His death was unfortunate, but expected considering his final task was to incite the awakening of Cocytus within you."

"You throw away human beings like toys, even those dedicated to your own cause!"

"Yuu failed to stop you the first time he had the chance! His actions cost us the whole of GHQ. A suicide mission was fitting punishment and redemption all at once. He wished for nothing more, and proved himself most valuable after all, even claiming the last Void Genome. Do not speak to me about cruelty when ultimately it is you that brought this fate upon him. But what do you care? After all, he was your enemy and you gladly destroyed him, even as you now intend to destroy me."

"That's where you're wrong. It was never my desire to kill or destroy! I nearly lost myself in guilt over what I'd done with the Void Genome. It was only because I was surrounded by those who cared about me that I pulled through! And now it's my turn: to protect those I care about, not sacrifice them to some 'natural selection'."

"Oh, Ouma Shu: your eyes may see, but how blind you still truly are! Your words prove one thing, and one thing alone: that you are indeed the Adam which will bear the DNA for Da'ath's new world. Naturally it is a position I envy for myself. I expended a great amount of energy and resources attempting to preserve my own DNA for the next cycle, even if only in a copy like Tsutsugami Gai. Shuichiro Keido likewise fostered the same end simply so that Kurosu's DNA would not be the basis for both a new Adam and Eve. But try as we might, my DNA never reached an acceptable level. At present the average adult's DNA is too matured to accept new entries to the system. As a result they either have no Void at all, or attempting to draw one out will immediately crystallize them. Although I am above average I was yet selected out, but that doesn't mean I can't do the choosing. My artificial evolution may have been insufficient, but you, Ouma Shu—you are truly different, a trophy of natural selection. You were born to rise above the rest. A human race bred for Voids would suffer no such ill fate as mine. The Void Genome would be natural to it, just as it was to you. And of course there's no one more suited to complement the part than Mana. Perhaps she will yet take pleasure in inhabiting Ouma Inori's frame even more than when she was 'Yuzuriha'."

I manifested two spikes from my arms and gripped them tightly.

"That's...not...going...to happen. Take my life if you must, but I won't let anything happen to Inori!"

"Hmph. Then I suppose you will challenge me with your feeble blades of crystal?"

In one motion Izanagi stood from his throne and cast off his white cloak, revealing beneath it a black and cyan trench coat overlaying thin combat armor with two long swords strapped to his hips.

"Fight me, Ouma Shu! Or do you not know that the only way you may be victorious is if you draw upon the power of Cocytus, and by doing so you draw the world ever nearer to the Final Apocalypse?"

I didn't know how to respond with words, so instead with crystals under my feet I launched myself forwards and into the air to fly straight over the platform in the room's center towards Izanagi, who remained motionless until the very last moment. Then in a flash too quick for human eyes to perceive he drew both of his swords and sliced straight through my crystal blades, leaving only useless stubs in their place. I stumbled away several steps and then turned around, manifesting a shield across my forearm to block Izanagi. But he didn't charge me immediately—instead he stood back, swinging his swords about with incredible form and dexterity.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Ouma Shu. Show me the power that will earn you the place of Adam!"

My heart lurched with heat, as if a boiling rage was trying to burst out. I ignored it, instead focusing on keeping my usage of Cocytus in check. I produced another spike on my free arm and this time manifested a second and third layer on top of the first, then did likewise for the shield. Izanagi's furrowed brow tightened as he watched, swords poised and ready to strike. I knew that making the first move would put me at a disadvantage, so I bluffed by shouting and charging only a few steps before making a crystal ramp at my feet and jumping backwards off of it to put distance between my opponent and I just as he started swinging. Izanagi's swords chopped straight through the ramp as it fell apart from being severed from my feet, leaving him vulnerable for a fraction of a second. I charged forward again, but too slowly to deal any damage. Izanagi slammed into my shield and broke it in half then followed through with a second strike which I blocked with my blade. The swords cut into it, but not far enough to break the reinforced spike. Gathering all my strength I shoved Izanagi out of our lock and swung the remains of my broken shield at him. The sharp edge caught on his arm but only managed to slice through the sleeve of his trench coat. I could tell by his expression that even that was more than he expected of me so soon. Without wasting time I swung again, trying to take advantage of the surprise, but this time he teleported out of the way, coming back into form swinging and breaking off the last of my shield as I dove out of the way.

"So tell me, Izanagi," I asked while getting back onto my feet, "what shall I expect to come out of you? Poison? Liquid crystal? I'm doubtful it will be blood."

"What an odd question."

"Hardly. You claim to want a new humanity, but what you're creating isn't human! You're destroying humanity and creating a race of _bakemono _in its place!"

"Hmph. Look at yourself, 'king' Shu."

With that Izanagi teleported right in front of me and furiously spun his swords through the air. It was all I could do to stay on my feet and produce crystals fast enough for him to chop them away as he pushed me backwards towards the circular platform. Before long my back hit the wall and I dodged away as he swung down, swords clanging loudly on one of the platform's surrounding fins. Inspired, I responded with a tremendously long spike from my position towards his and then a second towards the fin beside him. As planned his swords again collided with the metal surface, and this time I let the vibration shatter my spikes, creating a thousand needles for Izanagi to deal with instead. He must not have seen it coming, for he didn't teleport away in time. His armor prevented any serious injuries, but his face was dealt a few respectable marks. Izanagi's annoyed and pained expression caused my mind to flash back to when Inori and I pulled a similar stunt on the agent Yuu. That fight was a close one, but we did eventually come out the victors—perhaps that was a good sign for this fight.

My heart lurched again, this time the heat intense enough that it actually hurt. One hand inadvertently clenched at my chest.

"Do you feel it, Ouma Shu? That is the countdown to Apocalypse."

_"__Not if I kill you quickly..."_

I ran forward again and this time produced a ball of crystal spikes around both of my fists. When he swung at me I caught his swords on my hands and then spread the crystals from my hands around his blades, locking us together. For several seconds we struggled against one another, each trying to yank the weapons from the other's grasp. Our dance pushed and shoved us across the room until we were once again beside the central platform, at which point Izanagi picked me straight up off the floor and slammed me into the wall. I maintained my grip the first time, then the second, but the third time my head hit one of the fins and left me in a daze. My crystals shattered and I fell to the ground only to meet with Izanagi's boot in my face again. Over and over he kicked me, in the face, in the stomach, in the back—within seconds I was left bloodied, beaten, and barely able to stand.

Another lurch in my chest.

"I'm disappointed, Ouma Shu. Why are you holding back your power when you could destroy me with it if you tried?"

"If...destroying you...means destroying those I live to protect...then I won't."

Izanagi's scowl intensified.

"I won't use Cocytus!" I shouted decisively. "I'd rather you killed me now."

A finger snap echoed throughout the floor.

"We'll see about that."

Izanagi teleported away and left me alone, though I knew he wasn't far off. I forced myself onto my feet despite the myriad pains that racked my weakened body, and no sooner had I lifted my eyes than a bright light flashed and faded, leaving Inori in its place—the same way I'd arrived.

"Shu!" She shouted in horror, seeing my condition.

"Inori..."

She ran over and threw her arms around me, tears streaming down her face.

"You're hurt!"

"I'm fine. Listen, you need to get out of here!"

"No. Not without you!"

"Inori, you _have _to listen: we don't have time for—"

"You're right. I'm staying no matter what, so don't waste time arguing."

Suddenly Izanagi appeared behind Inori. My heart lurched again at the sight.

"Inori, look out!"

I tackled Inori as Izanagi's swords nearly came down on top of her, but he simply teleported again beside her on the ground and tried to come down in a solid stab. Just before he could I rolled Inori over me onto my other side.

"Get up! Run!"

She only half obeyed. Since she wasn't hurt Inori got onto her feet faster than me, but rather than leave me there she leaned over, false hand outstretched to help me up. Before I could tell her again, a gunshot split the air, and next thing I knew Inori was stumbling back, a gaping hole in her chest. I wanted to scream, but I was so desperate I couldn't make a sound. All I could do was stare up at Izanagi who stood opposite her, a smoking pistol in his hand.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

_Shinomiya Ayase_

Yan Daryl recklessly chopped through both friendly and hostile Endlaves as Orion swung at Steiner and I just tried to stay alive and get in a shot whenever possible. Tsugumi streamed instruction after instruction into my ears while simultaneously trying to hack Daryl's Endlave in any way she could, without success. I'd never fought an Endlave that relied on swords before, but Daryl knew all about Steiner. As such he had a significant advantage and kept me mostly on the defensive—I hated that. It felt like losing.

"Any ideas, Tsugumi!?"

I leaped back and opened fire on a couple other Endlaves that swooped in between Daryl and me.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!"

Numerous beeps slipped through as Tsugumi replied—she really was working hard.

"I don't think we're going to be able to hack Orion," she confessed.

I dodged Daryl's swing as he cursed at me for being so 'slippery'. It put me off to his side again, so I took the opportunity to shoot out another of his blades, but it was not his last and the rampage continued almost without interruption.

"How many of those things does that guy have, Aya?"

"Don't ask me!"

"Too many, I suppose. Can you go for his whole arm?"

I suspected Orion was made of sturdier stuff than even Steiner II, but I didn't have any other ideas, so I dodged another of his swings and then jumped forward, slamming Orion's sword arm up against the nearest wall with all the weight of Steiner. I fired right at Orion's elbow joint—an obvious weak spot—but the bullets only ricocheted away.

"Is that the best you've got?" Daryl scoffed.

"Aya, look out!"

Not knowing which direction to be looking about I simply boosted Steiner straight up into the air. There was a crash below me, which I saw was another Da'ath Endlave rushing at me but colliding with Daryl instead. The mech impaled itself on Orion's sword and was disabled, leaving a heap of dead weight for him to deal with.

"Now, Aya-nee! Shoot the mech! Shoot it!"

Without even thinking everything through I opened fire before even touching back down to the ground. Daryl held the dead Endlave up as a shield, but just as I was about to doubt Tsugumi's plan it exploded, severely damaging Orion's sword hand. When the smoke cleared I could see Daryl cursing and trying to get another sword to come out, but without luck. Something in the explosion must've either jammed the mechanism or broken it entirely.

We'd evened out the fight, but it was still far from over.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

"I-Inori!" breath finally returned to me as I scrambled onto my feet and over to Inori's limp body.

Immediately I swept her up into my arms on the floor and stared desperately into her frightened face. A tear rolled out of one eye, and she stuttered, but no words came out. Inori reached up a trembling hand and tried to touch my face, but her strength failed and her hand would've fallen had I not caught it first and pressed it to my cheek.

"Inori...it'll be alright. You'll be alright!"

Her eyes slowly closed.

"Stop that, Inori! Stay awake! You _have_ to stay awake!"

I was powerless to stop her decline. Her hand relaxed in my grasp. I took a deep breath and shouted her name one last time, holding out my desperate cry until there was no air left in my lungs, but all to no avail. For a moment I disregarded Izanagi standing nearby and wept unlike I'd ever done before—not even the last time I lost Inori.

"Tragic," said the 'will of Da'ath' behind me. "But fear not: her body is not yet beyond repair. It will still make a suitable vessel for Mana."

I stifled the tears and gently set Inori down. My heart lurched, and this time a bit of the heat remained after. I slowly turned to face Izanagi, my expression dark as a black hole. I didn't know what to say or to feel, but I knew exactly what to do: Izanagi had to die. The distance between us shrank as my feet carried me forward of their own will. He smiled wickedly as I approached, and tossed down the pistol to draw back the swords at his hips. I made no reaction but to keep on pressing forward, one grave step at a time. Izanagi swung at me then, but I instantly caught the blade in my hand, reinforced by a layer of crystal too thick for it to penetrate. He jabbed at me with the other sword, but with a crystal shield I swept it aside with all the difficulty of swatting a fly. I followed up the motion by grabbing right onto Izanagi's wrist and squeezing with all my might. His strong frame didn't cave beneath my own strength and rage, but I didn't necessarily intend for it to. Instead I started producing crystals within my fist, sharp and jagged ones, and forced them down into his body as hard as I could. He needed to suffer. Blood soon dripped from Izanagi's arm, but he didn't cry out in pain. Instead he jerked his other sword free and tried to come back at me with it. I dove out of the way, further tearing up his arm and hand in the process.

"Does this mean you're finally ready to fight me, Ouma Shu?"

"No. It means I'm finally ready to _kill _you!"

I charged back at Izanagi and engaged him in the fastest hand-to-hand combat I'd ever seen, never mind experienced. His swords painted bright flashes of light through the air, and I fought back with crystal spikes and shields. This time it was Izanagi that found himself back-stepping as I pushed forward, keeping less than a meter between us but never taking damage from his long blades. Left, right, across, spin, lunge, deflect—our actions flowed together like gears of the world's fastest clock, always fitting right within each other without damage. But that was slowly changing—here I'd get in a scratch, there a poke in the arm. I felt invincible. My energy knew no limits. If I had to kill Izanagi by picking him apart one centimeter at a time, I was prepared to do so.

"You took away my father!" I yelled as the fight grew ever more intense. "You took away sister! You took away my _life, _driving me to the king's power and now Cocytus! And now you think you can take away _Inori _too?"

I formed steps of crystal beneath my feet to give me a distinctive height advantage over Izanagi and then jumped, creating a club between my hands to crush him on my way down. The blow landed and he fell back, finally dropping his swords as he teleported away half a second too late. I took up his weapons and then looked around the room for where he might have appeared. To my surprise, he was laying on the central platform, still stunned from the impact. I rushed up to Izanagi and pointed a sword in his face before he could get up. The blade gleamed in the sole light from above, pointing down directly where we stood.

"Is it not fitting that I should take your life in return!?"

"Hmph. If that is what you want."

His words cut me deeply. I'd just gotten through telling him that I never wanted to kill or destroy, but that I did it for the sake of others. Now the tables had turned: I _wanted_ to kill Izanagi, and for myself alone. I hesitated, wondering what to do, but it didn't take me long to conclude that however pure or impure my personal reasons might have been, Izanagi had to die. Without him the rest of Da'ath would surely fall. The assault was _held_ for the purpose of Izanagi's ultimate demise! If I gave in to what could be a bluff now and let him live, it would jeopardize everything we'd done—and wouldn't that disrespect the sacrifices so many others had made along the way?

Izanagi grinned at my hesitation, and withdrew a tiny device from his armor. It reminded me of a pen I once received from a GHQ agent trying to trick me into destroying Funeral Parlor. That device had looked harmless enough on the outside, but in reality if I had pressed the buttons on the surface it would have triggered a weapon of mass destruction to fire right on the pen's location, wherever in the world that happened to be. As far as we knew Da'ath possessed no such weapons, but that didn't guarantee anything at this stage. I reacted spontaneously based on the device's appearance and with a shout leaped forward and ran Izanagi through with both swords as he lay propped up on his elbows. The sound and feel of slicing through flesh so effortlessly sickened me a little.

"One meteor hits, and look at all it does for our feeble world," Izanagi forced out through gritted teeth. "So much death and destruction, yet so much life and improvement. If this is the tiniest sample of what the universe truly holds beyond our planet...I can only imagine what a stronger, more adaptable human race will achieve for itself."

Izanagi's fingers came together on the pen and it emitted a beep right as his last breath escaped his lungs and he fell back in a pool of blood. I let go of the swords and left them protruding from his chest—just in case part of his modifications could account for a miraculous recovery. A moment later, the entire floor began transforming—the result of the pen device, no doubt. The walls and the floor weaved in and out of each other, creating a variety of platforms and protrusions, all hexagonal in shape. Some surfaces tilted towards the floor and others towards the ceiling, reminiscent of the fins around the the central platform I stood on, which thankfully didn't budge in all the chaos. Before I could decide how to respond, a strange sound reached my ears—a sound I dreaded more than anything else. It was an ethereal tune, the dance of an otherworldly melody which was at once the embodiment of death and beauty, a desirable insanity and fearful seduction, a tragic opera in which all the world played a part. I'd only ever heard it twice before in my life, but never could I forget it: the sound of genomic resonance of a massive scale. The noise bore into my skull and grasped deep down into my chest until it took hold of my boiling heart and yanked at it so hard I feel to my knees and cried out in pain. An eerie glow took form at my chest, unhindered by my arms as I struggled to cover the light and contain the pain within. I wanted to scream at the unearthly music and beg it to stop, but I couldn't control myself even so well as to speak, by that point. Suddenly the reaction grew so intense that I was thrown backwards in an explosion and I watched in horror from the floor of the platform as a swirling beam of purple coursed from my trembling body and shot upwards, magnified and directed by the room's myriad arrays. The ceiling opened like an aperture and funneled the energy into the world beyond. But before long the arrays' main purpose made itself manifest: as I lay helpless on the floor, the very air in front and above me slowly started to rip open until it had formed a thin window inside the purple beam, opening the way to none other than Shangri'la, Da'ath's staging ground for the Final Apocalypse. I understood then that Izanagi led me up to the platform for a reason, and this was it: to initiate the process of overwriting the real world with their created crystal one. Everything was in place. Shangri'la possessed the entirety of the Apocalypse Virus and the Voids of the world which mixed with Mana's heart at the first Lost Christmas. I possessed both Mana herself as well as Cocytus, the power governing her and these other sinful, lesser powers. In reuniting them all, the world's fate was set. Even in death, Izanagi had won.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

_Shinomiya Ayase_

"I suppose you think you're really something now, huh?" Daryl taunted as we raced through the hordes of warring Endlaves, firing at each other all along the way. "Well this isn't over yet!"

With that he rotated away the malfunctioning hand on Orion and locked into its place some sort of cannon. I couldn't fathom the technology that would allow for such a trade.

"See how you like this, runts!"

Daryl opened fire with his new arm, dealing in ordinance which exploded only to send dozens more little explosives flying all over the place. He had no cares for how many of his own Endlaves he destroyed with such imprecise weaponry—all that mattered to him was that he finally started leaving marks on Steiner. Daryl laughed obnoxiously at the destruction around him.

"Aya, watch out!" Tsugumi shouted. "Your armor is taking a serious beating!"

"I know, I know!"

I whirled Steiner around an oncoming enemy Endlave and came back into position firing with everything I had. But try as I might, I couldn't simultaneously shoot flak out of the air and do significant damage to Orion. I gritted my teeth and fought with all my strength as Steiner's diagnostics grew increasingly critical. Eventually I had to boost upward and out of the way just to catch a breath. Tsugumi desperately tried to issue orders for my safety, but I didn't hear over Steiner beeping a dozen different warnings into my ears. All I knew is that when I came back down, I better have something good in mind.

I didn't.

Daryl was ready and had his flak cannon loaded and ready to strike the killing blow to Steiner's head as I landed right in front of him.

"Finally!" he screamed. "Oh, how long I've waited for this moment. Though it _is _a shame I have to destroy my Steiner, I will only too gladly make the sacrifice...to destroy _you_!"

"Emergency eject!" Tsugumi begged while Daryl laughed again.

Just then something odd happened. The lights in the facility flickered and numerous Endlaves all around us spontaneously shut down. Steiner's video feed grew fuzzy, but I retained enough control to move around. I could tell Orion was facing similar difficulties.

"Huh? W-what's your problem!?" Daryl yelled with frustration as his Endlave refused to fire.

"Ayase! Can you still hear me?"

"I read you, Tsugumi. What's going on?"

"Something's coming out of the facility! It's spreading all over the radars—all over the _map!_"

"What is?"

"I-I don't...wait. Is that...genomic resonance?"

My heart skipped a beat. I thought we'd already finished dealing with the Apocalypse Virus and the genomic resonance that activated it. Da'ath wouldn't be using the resonance if they didn't have the virus to activate, so that could only mean one thing: something had gone seriously wrong, and probably with Shu.

Shouts from below Steiner redirected my attention about the Endlave garage. Chinese military flooded the room and started opening heavy fire...on the _Japanese _Endlaves!

"Tsugumi!"

"I see them, I see them! Try to get Steiner out of there, but if you can't do it I'm ejecting you and leaving him behind, got it?"

With great effort I managed to get Steiner to slowly walk backwards towards the exit. My connection was strained to the point that I could barely get my actions through.

"Are all the Chinese are defecting?"

"Sure looks that way, but don't worry about them for now, Aya! They're the least of our problems!"

"But—"

I was interrupted by a Chinese rocket blowing up on Steiner's right arm. I couldn't tell how much damage was done with my diagnostics scrambled, but I knew it couldn't be a pretty sight. Then another missile-bearing soldier crouched down, took aim...and hit Orion square in the gut.

"E-eh!? What are you doing, you fools?" Daryl shouted. "I'm with _you_!"

"Not anymore," came the calm and cool response from the man below. "Izanagi-sama thanks you for your service!"

"Like heck he does!"

Daryl struggled to turn Orion around and successfully forced the mech to fire off a few shots and take down some Chinese anti-Endlave troops, but a mostly disabled Endlave was no match for the hordes of men around him. Orion didn't go down easy though, and the distraction was enough that I successfully turned Steiner around and made a clumsy break for the exit. However, just before I made it out of the garage and into the tunnel leading to the beach there was an earth-shaking explosion in the distance behind me, joined by a scream I knew only too well—that awful sound that follows a pilot's connection with a dying Endlave overloading his mind with too much trauma for him to handle.

_"So that's it, then..."_

That was all I could think. I didn't know what to feel—whether to pity Daryl or hate him or chock his demise up to just desserts. I only knew that it was over with us, with my part in the assault, and quite possibly the rest of the world as well. It was all just..._over_.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

_Ouma Shu_

The portal to Shangri'la gradually widened as the genomic resonance continued its mortal song. Crystals were starting to be sucked like a giant vacuum into the blinding beam that ran through the facility and out into the world above. I'd fought so hard to keep the Virus from ever entering the world again, but here it was before me, doing just that. And worse, I was powerless to move, much less do anything about it.

A tiny movement in the distance caught my attention amid the chaos. Up on one of the platforms Inori wearily dragged herself to the edge and looked down at me, her false hand outstretched, stained with blood. I tried to return the gesture, amazed that she was even still alive, but my body was racked with tremors like a severe electric shock and I could no more control my movements than I could stop the genomic resonance all around us. Inori didn't scream or cry as I thought she might at seeing me in such pain, but instead just smiled a moment, and then opened her mouth...to _sing_.

"_Saita nonohana yo_, _aa douka oshiete okure, hito wa naze kizutsukeatte arasou no deshou_..."

_"Inori..."_

"_Rin to saku hana yo, soko kara nani ga mieru hito wa naze yurushiau koto, dekinai no deshou..._"

Unlike before, when Inori possessed the power of Cocytus, her song bore no effect upon the raging energy bringing the Final Apocalypse upon the world. Her heart had changed, too, as evidenced by her Void being a flower instead of a sword. She was really, totally human and nothing more. Just like she wanted...except for right now. Now she simply lost her strength again and closed her eyes, arm drooping to hang loosely over the platform's edge.

I redirected my gaze towards the portal before me. My body couldn't take much more. The stress was too great, the pain too intense. The light seemed to envelope my being, swirling all around and removing all sensation, both good and bad, until my existence was light itself without weight or feeling.

_"__Is this what __death__ feels like?"_

The world remained white for some time. All was silent. I couldn't hear any more genomic resonance, no more of Inori's singing, not even my own labored breath. Just...a distant rumbling? I tried stepping forward, and found that the action returned the sensation of a body to me, and that I was already standing upright and perfectly capable of moving around freely. I wasn't sure what I might be moving towards—the afterlife seemed most likely—but I had nowhere else to go, and so I ran forward wherever my feet might take me. The rumbling noise intensified as I moved until I could feel the vibration underfoot. I looked downward to identify the cause, but still whiteness filled my vision. Then I looked back up, and suddenly the whiteness was nowhere to be found, replaced by a dark and grim scene instead. I recognized the area to be the beach I typically met Mana at in my dreams, only over the course of our meetings it had slowly changed from pleasant to monstrous, and now at last the transformation was complete. The sand had turned to ashes and the ocean into molten lava flowing from a distant mountain which had erupted as a volcano. The sky was a deep red, largely covered by rolling black clouds. The dream's sense of order had also vanished—the terrain was unnaturally twisted, and much of it had broken apart and now floated through the air in a chaotic mess of hovering boulders. But worst of all there was Mana, appearing fully grown, dancing among the rocks and humming the tune of the genomic resonance wreaking havoc upon the real world. She no longer wore her pink dress, but instead a black and purple outfit something like what she took on for herself after being reborn by Gai.

"Mana, stop!" I shouted, in spite of myself.

Her crystalline eyes met mine and resentfully acknowledged my presence, but she continued her dreadful dance without hesitation. On any other night I might have tried to be more gentle to avoid upsetting her, but that game had gone on quite long enough. This time Mana had to die—even if that meant bringing myself down with her. That in mind, I walked resolutely right up to the floating rocks and jumped up on one as it passed by. This being a dream, I managed the impossible leap with ease.

"I won't let you go this time, Mana! You can ignore me all you want to, but I _will _stop you!"

That got her attention, but perhaps not in the way I expected. Mana stopped her dance and floated daintily down onto a rock opposite my position and glared at me as we slowly circled around each other like on an infernal carousel.

"Me? Ignore _you_!? This is _your _fault, Shu!"

No '_otouto-chan_'. She wasn't even pretending to be nice.

"I have always loved you, and yet you have _always _ignored me! So now what? Am I supposed to suddenly forgive you just because you want to save your precious little 'Inori-koi'? I _hate _that girl!"

The rage in her voice as she spoke of Inori caused a blast of wind to shake the floating assembly of boulders.

"You're supposed to be _my _king, Shu! _Mine_! And now you will be whether you want to or not! So why didn't you just accept me from the beginning? All you've done is hurt me, and nothing's even changed! I still love you, but I can _never_ forgive you."

Bursts of lava flared up from the molten ocean beyond.

"You say you love me?" I wanted to tear her words apart. "You never loved me! All you've ever thought about is yourself!"

"Myself!? For all my life I've had to bear the burden of the Apocalypse Virus! You already have everything, but you were all I ever wanted. Don't tell me about being selfish, Ouma Shu."

"Yet if you truly loved me you would have wanted what I wanted! Do you think Inori wanted to be trapped in Shangri'la? To be cold, hungry, thirsty, and infected forever? Yet she was willing to do it for me, and not only me, but everyone she'd come to love. Inori knows what it is to bear a burden, yet her love overcame it! How about you, Mana? How has your 'love' eased your burden? You're only jealous—you've added to your own suffering!"

"I chose you before you were _born_! The depths of our connection knows no bounds!"

I tried manifesting a crystal spike from one arm, and to my satisfaction it worked even in the dream.

"Then prove it," I challenged. "If your love for me is as strong as you claim, then overcome my love for Inori with it!"

Mana cackled wickedly at the proposal.

"So you'll be my Adam if I prove my worthiness as your Eve?"

I nodded, at once answering Mana and the question of if I would win the fight or not.

"Then what are you waiting for, _Otouto-chan_? Ready or not, here I come!"

Mana flew across the gap between us as she produced a crystal spear in her hands. Our weapons clashed to the sound of lightning striking in the distance, and for a moment our faces remained mere centimeters apart. Then I produced a spike in my other hand and jabbed it at Mana's stomach. She whirled back with all the grace of a dancer and then came back down on the rock beneath my feet, splitting it in two with her spear. I anticipated the action, though, and jumped off the boulder onto another just in the nick of time. Mana wasn't far behind and again we engaged, this time exchanging numerous strikes yet without breaking through to harm each other. From floating platform to platform I shifted, and Mana flew along without any need for ground beneath her feet all the while. She had a distinct advantage over me, considering this dream was her domain and my powers were hers as well. It was like she could read my thoughts—I couldn't gain any ground on her, and I could only block her strikes on instinct alone, which came to me too quickly to form any readable thoughts. Around us the dream slowly disintegrated as we fought, burning, twisting, crumbling away. It was like we were on a timer, and when it counted down to zero Cocytus would be totally free from this place, bringing Mana along with it. The fight had to end before then, or Cocytus would end it for us.

I thrust forward in desperation, only to have my blades swept aside by the head of Mana's spear, which she then spun around to whack me in the head with blunt end. I stumbled and fell down to another rock platform, crushing my crystal spikes and leaving me completely vulnerable. Mana laughed, knowing her chance had finally come. But then—

"_Hanasanaide, gyutto te o nigitte ite..._"

_"Inori!? But...how—"_

Her sweet voice echoed throughout the dreamspace, surprising both Mana and me. Was my connection to her so deep that I could even hear her voice even in this place while totally unconscious? Whatever the reason, Inori's song distracted Mana long enough for me to roll out of the way before her spear impaled my back and come back up to my feet, strengthened anew by the presence of the one I loved more than anything else in all the world.

"_A__nata to futari tsudzuku to itte..._"

I leaped upwards towards Mana, suddenly having no need of solid ground myself. We clashed in midair, and I for the first time in my life I actually detected fear in Mana's eyes. She hid it quickly behind her anger and spun away, but I charged right after her, my movements uninhibited like the very flow of passion in my heart. I produced a massive crystal weapon that intentionally resembled Inori's old sword Void and shoved it at my opponent. It broke straight through her crystal spear and pierced her heart.

"_...nemuru no_!" Inori's voice crescendoed as our victory was sealed.

Mana and I flew downward from the rocks onto the ashen sand of the beach. She hit hard, and had a blade through her heart besides, but I was not worried for her safety in this dream. I drew the crystal blade from Mana's chest, bringing with it a spiraling flow of red helixes which dissipated into the air.

"You know nothing of the true bond of love," I declared with finality.

Mana tried to get up, but the most she could do was get off her back and onto her knees. Her strength was completely gone.

"Shu...oh, Shu..."

Tears started flowing from her eyes.

"If it was only my life at stake, I would have no problem losing to you," I explained. "But I can't give in. I can't even blindly sacrifice myself. There are others whom I must take care of—others whom I love. It is for them I fight. If you love me as you claim...then fight for me!"

I cast aside the sword and reached out a hand to help Mana back onto her feet. She took it, but she was still very weak, and so as she stood she also fell against me, crying on my shoulder. I wasn't certain if I should let her do so or not, but somehow I sensed no hostility at the moment.

"You're...warm..." she whispered between sobs. "Oh, Shu..."

Mana gathered all her remaining strength and stepped back from me, though without removing her hands from my chest.

"It...must be hard to believe, but I really do_ want_ to love you, _Otouto-chan._"

There was a distinct change of tone in her words. Did it have something to do with the strange red strands that escaped from her heart?

"Give it to me," she suddenly demanded firmly, though tears still fell from her eyes. "Give it to me!"

A light appeared beneath Mana's hands at my chest and I felt something like a great weight being drawn out from inside me. It hurt to have it pulled away, but the instant the action was done I felt relief unlike anything I'd ever known before. When Mana stumbled back from me, in her hands was a black cord, woven around her fingers in a cat's cradle. Tears came to my own eyes, then—I knew exactly what she was doing.

"Goodbye, _Otouto-chan_..."

The world slowly silenced around me and faded away, leaving only Mana in my vision.

"Your...your big sister loves you..."

With that even she succumbed to the darkness with one last cry, leaving me at peace for only a moment before I was cruelly shoved back into the real world where my body was still being racked with the power of Cocytus. The sound of genomic resonance once again filled my ears, and through my blurry eyes I could see the great beam of energy still bouncing all over the facility, carrying the crystals of Shangri'la with it in full force. But then all of a sudden the music seemed to warp and lose its power. The energy all around froze in position, then began a reverse course back into Shangri'la. The portal opened wider and wider as the recession grew faster and faster, the force becoming so great as to even suck Izanagi's corpse into the vacuum of crystals. Just before the last of the energy retracted back down through the Da'ath facility, a great light grew at my chest, greater than the one before, and then disconnected itself from me, at last leaving my body in stillness and peace. The light merged with the remaining beam and portal and the whole thing exploded, sending me flying off the platform and across the room. I was too weak to move, and so I rolled limply until the momentum died down and I came to a painful halt.

Silence reigned as the dust settled.

I wondered if I might ever be found or not. After all, I'd arrived by means of Da'ath's teleportation, and no other entrance ever presented itself, save the opening in the ceiling. It would be a very long time before any Japanese forces found their way down—too late for me, in any case.

A hand gently touched my shoulder and rolled me onto my back. Even though I couldn't see clearly, I could tell exactly who the hand belonged to.

_"Inori..."_

I tried to speak her name as well, but my lips refused to move.

"Shu! Can you hear me? Shu!"

_"So you're...alright. That's good."_

Inori's safety settled and my mission complete, I closed my eyes and let myself stop struggling.

"Shu!"

Her voice echoed hollowly, and then all was calm and quiet. And for the first time in ages, I had no dream of Mana.

* * *

**GC**

* * *

A bright light shone through my eyelids, forcing me awake. I blinked a few times to clear away the blurriness and let my eyes adjust. I noticed a machine beeping regularly beside me as I slowly came to. It didn't take much to figure out that I was in a hospital room, though I had absolutely no memory of coming here. I imagined a while must've passed since I was on the floor of the Da'ath facility. After some time and effort I fully regained consciousness and looked around the white room, then down onto my bed. A mass of pink hair sprawled across the surface at my side. Smiling, I reached out my false right hand and touched the head resting there. Of course it was Inori, and she jerked awake at the touch and looked at me with unspeakable gladness.

"Thank goodness!"

She practically dove on top of me, happy tears streaming down her cheeks. Around Inori's shoulder I could see bandages protruding out the top of her shirt, but she didn't seem to be favoring the wound too much.

"What happened?" Speaking was harder than I expected it would be, but at least I could do it.

"Do you remember? We were in the bottom of the facility and the Final Apocalypse had started, but then all of a sudden something changed and it all went into Shangri'la and destroyed itself. Oh, Shu, I was so afraid you...you wouldn't..."

Inori never let go of me as she told the story.

"I remember. I thought you were a goner, too. But after that?"

"Most of the Chinese army was secretly working for Da'ath, but they surrendered pretty quickly when they saw that Izanagi was dead and the Final Apocalypse had stopped. Japan and the UN are still cleaning up the rest, but there's no more fighting. You were out for three days."

I squeezed Inori a bit tighter.

"Then we don't have anything to worry about anymore," I told her.

"What about Mana?"

"She's really gone this time, I think. Mana took it all upon herself for me. That's why there was the explosion."

"Really? Why did she do that?"

I didn't answer. Was it because of love? Had Mana seen the light right at the very end? Did that mean she could have been saved all along, and we failed to do so? Maybe she had reasons all her own for what she did. Regardless, what's done is done. And finally, after so many years, the great apocalypse incident was finally finished.

* * *

_Author's notes: But wait, there's more! Keep on reading to the Epilogue!_


	14. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_(2046 A.D.) A few years later..._

An infant cry split the air in the hospital room, and my pounding heart eased a bit. One of several medical professionals in the room handed the crying bundle to Inori in her hospital bed, and together we smiled like we didn't know was possible.

"She looks just like you," I commented.

"She has your nose, though."

"You think so?"

The first few hours with our newborn daughter flew by. I couldn't get used to that—putting the words 'our' and 'daughter' next to each other in my head. It was the strangest of feelings, but wonderful too. Inori and I named her Hare, after one of the first friends we lost to the Apocalypse Virus. She'd possessed a gift for healing others, and we hoped that our Hare would do the same for our lives in the midst of a world with still so much healing left to do. Even though China went down fairly peacefully after the big battle a few years ago their deception left Japan uneasy, and relations were tense to this day. Shibungi's tenure in office would be ending soon, and so he worked tirelessly to ensure that he'd be passing on an easier baton than he was handed as the first president. He'd successfully built up a stable and popular government around himself, and the nation as a whole was quite strong thanks to his leadership. As for the UN, they continue discovering new things in Da'ath's facilities all over the globe, but for all practical purposes the operation has at last come to an end. Da'ath lost all their assets—they just left a number of fingerprints on the world that needed to be wiped away. Among the UN's ranks, I heard that a certain Katsumi Aki left her position in the UN military in favor of joining Japan, where she could be closer to Arugo, who remained onboard with the presidential guard.

As for the others, well, we got to see for ourselves when the door to our hospital room burst open later that day with Haruka leading the charge. After losing almost every member of her family, she was elated to finally have a new member _added _instead. Tsugumi and Ayase walked in behind her—and Ayase actually was _walking_, not rolling in on a wheelchair. As thanks for her contributions to the effort against Da'ath, the government paid for a highly advanced spinal surgery based on newly developed technology to correct paraplegics like Ayase. She was on crutches and likely would never be able to walk completely normally, but the look of joy on Ayase's face demonstrated her satisfaction with the improvement. I imagined the change meant she could contribute much more to the Special Intelligence Division, which would continue operating even though its original objective was completed in full. Tsugumi stayed on as well, of course, and quickly became the youngest Lieutenant on the force—and the only one permitted to wear a headband with _neko _ears. Everyone finally got to live the life they all deserved.

I didn't know the world could be such a happy place.

That evening when everyone was gone I left Inori with our little Hare for a while to take a walk by the park I'd spent so much time at. It looked so much the same as always—the damage caused by the Final Apocalypse hadn't touched a thing, here. The water rippling in the sunset, the cityscape beyond—I'd seen it all before on numerous occasions, and imagined it those many times when I came here but could not see. But appearances aside, it still felt different today. I hadn't come to ponder my troubles, this time. In fact, I hadn't even really come for my sake at all.

I went down to the very edge of the lake and crouched down, holding in my hands a wreath of leaves I'd woven together while remembering all that had happened over the last several years. Only I didn't really see it as a wreath, but something else.

"_Oto-san_," I started with a deep breath. _Father_. "This is the burden which you bestowed upon me. I want you to know that...we're all free of it, now. It took a lot of pain and mistakes to get us here, and so much more love and friendship, but at last the world is actually a better place because of what you discovered. So I want you to know, _Oto-san_, that I don't bear the Guilty Crown anymore...and you don't have to, either."

With that I carefully set the ring of leaves down on the water and watched as it whimsically drifted away into the sunset.

"You were so often alone. You gave your life to try and save us. But I know you wanted to be with other people—your family, and friends. I hope now that everything's settled, well...that you're with us. None of us has to be alone anymore. I'm not. I have my friends, Haruka...Inori. We just had a daughter too, you know—your first granddaughter."

The wet wreath hit the sunlight upon the waters in the distance and sparkled brightly. It looked like a golden crown upon the peaceful waves of the lake. I let out a long sigh.

"We'll always be there to bear each other's burdens. That's what matters most, isn't it _Oto-san_? There will always be _some _burdens in the world, I suppose. What matters is that we have each other to share them with. And bearing the burdens of a friend, well...that will never be a Guilty Crown."

I watched in silence for a few more minutes before returning to the hospital, and even once there I didn't walk back into our room right away. Instead I remained in the doorway, looking in with affection at Inori as she stood by the window, Hare in her arms, singing softly:

"_Mou anata kara aisareru koto mo, hitsuyou to sareru koto mo nai, soshite watashi wa koushite hitoribocchi de, ano toki anata wa nante itta no_?_ Todokanai kotoba wa chuu wo mau, wakatteru no ni kyou mo shite shimau, kanawanu negaigoto wo._

_ Hanasanai de, gyutto te wo nigitteite, anata to futari tsuzuku to itte. Tsunaida sono te wa atatakakute, yasashikatta_!"

**Fin**

* * *

_Author's notes: I hope this ending was to everyone's satisfaction. To be honest, I started writing this fanfic on a whim and originally I thought I might give it a week, keep it short, and not follow a deeper narrative. Needless to say, this 50,000 word light novel is far beyond what I expected would come of my little effort at continuing the amazing story of Guilty Crown. It was a lot of work, demanding a lot of time and effort and re-watching key parts of the series to refresh my feel for the characters and events. But in the end this is a story I can say I am truly satisfied with having created and one I shall look back on with fondness. The response has been tremendous and really encouraged me as a writer, so although I can't say when you might next see a work of mine, I can guarantee that it will happen someday-perhaps in original form, perhaps in another fanfic. At any rate, my duty is done here. When I saw the end of the Guilty Crown anime, I felt like the creators were passing on the characters and story to me to continue it on, which I tried to do in a way that stayed as true to the creators' vision as possible, though I know there's plenty of my own influences in this fanfic as well. I have dedicated myself, I have done my best, and I have finished this story to the best of my ability. I hope it was an enjoyable read for you and answered some (maybe even many) of your questions about the series. Me? I can rest happily just knowing that Shu and Inori get to have their life together. For one last time...thank you all for reading! It is for you, my fellow Guilty Crown fans, that I have completed this work._


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